Life is Strange
by SilverDragonsTail
Summary: Emma's life is turned upside down one day when she finds herself kidnapped by frightening creatures. Join her as she experiences pain, laughter, fear, new friends, and possibly a new love as she tries to figure out who her killers where and what they were after. This is definitely not the life she thought she'd be living, but life is filled with strange unexpected twists and turns.
1. Chapter 1: Kidnapped

**A/N: This is my first Yu Yu Hakusho fanfic so I would love to hear everyone's inputs, but** **please be gentle. And sorry ahead of time if the first few chapters go a little fast, but I figured the easiest way to start was to dive head first into the story. It is rated M for Mature for language, violence, and any future plans that I may have. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.**

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 **Chapter 1**

 **Kidnapped**

"See ya tomorrow Carol!" I wave at the young blond making coffee behind the counter as I take off my apron. "See ya later Emma!" Carol waves back before she goes to the register to help a cranky coffee deprived customer.

I make my way to the small back room, stopping at a couple tables to say hi to some regulars. "Hey Miss Beverly how are you doing today?" I greet the elderly lady and look under the table at her service dog. "Is Pumpkin feeling any better?" She gives me a smile that a grandmother might give to her grandchild.

"We're both doing great today now that we got to see you're smiling face. How are you and that man doing?" She takes a sip of her coffee with a sweet smile which I gladly return. "We broke up, it's ok though I kind of like being single. I'm not in any rush to get married anyways."

She nods her head and looks at me with her understanding gaze. "That's a good girl, take your time. People now just seem to rush into things and then end up getting divorced a few years later. Plus I never liked the guy anyways he was such a shmuck." She nudges me with her boney elbow while giving me a wink.

I laugh, I love my regulars they're just like having extra family members who know way too much about me. "Well it's really good to see you Miss Beverly, but I need to get going now. I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" I look down at the dog. "And it's good to see you too Pumpkin." I pat the dog on his head and stand up straight.

She pats me on the arm. "Ok sweet angel you be good now." She turns back to her coffee and paper after I give her a grin and a nod. "I can't make any promises if you don't!" I hear her laugh as I walk away. I chat with a few other customers before I finally get to the backroom.

I clock out for the day then grab my purse from my locker. I throw my apron and hat into the locker and shut it, not caring that the apron strings are hanging out. I take my dark brown hair out of the messy bun and fix it into a ponytail. I grab my phone from out of my purse and check it seeing that there are two missed calls, both from my mom.

I dial the number as I exit the cozy little coffee shop that I've been managing for almost eight years now. The phone rings four times before I hear the distracted voice of my mother answer. "Hello?"

"Hey mom, you called?" I rest my phone between my shoulder and my head as I dig through my purse for my car keys while I walk through the parking lot weaving through cars.

"Oh yes! I just haven't heard from you in a few days and I wanted to make sure you were doing ok." She says and I can hear something bang in the background which causes me to roll my eyes.

"I'm sorry I haven't called, but I'm doing fine. I just got off of work am now headed home." I hear more noise in the background as I reach my car and sit inside. "Mom what the heck are you doing? I keep hearing banging in the background." I ask as I take the phone off of my shoulder and give it an odd look when another bang echoes through.

"Your dad is working on the trailer and I have to be out here to 'supervise' even though he knows I can't do anything." She says with a frustrated huff. "So have you heard from your brother lately? He's been quite busy with some new project so I haven't been able to get a hold of him."

I put the keys in the ignition starting my car and let it warm up for a few minutes. I shake my head and realizing that she can't see me I reply. "No I haven't heard from Cole in a few months. Now that he has become mister big shot genius engineer I never hear from him anymore." I pull out of the parking space and make my way to the street.

I hear my mom sigh into the phone. "You know you guys used to be so close, you should try calling him sometime, I'm sure he'd love to hear from you. I don't understand why you don't go back to school and become a teacher; you were so good with the kids. And you can finally leave that quaint little coffee shop." I hear a crash in the background followed by a stream of curses from a male voice, most likely my dad.

I roll my eyes at the phone as I focus on driving. "You know that even if I became a teacher I'd still be making more working at the Coffee Hut than I would be teaching. And plus I love coffee and the customers and I also get all the free coffee that I can drink, so there's a huge plus there." I laugh at the last part. "And Cole and I may be twins, but that doesn't mean I understand what's going through his head half of the time. Plus if he's really that busy then I don't want to bother him 'just to chat'. He can call me if he really needs to and I'll always answer; he knows that." I say with a sigh hoping to get her off the topic of my job choices.

I hear my dad yelling something in the background. "Well I'm glad you're doing well and I'd love it if you'd call us more often and I'd really love it you and your brother could get together some time to talk and catch up. I should get going your dad just smashed his thumb on something and I need to help fix it. Oh and if you hear from Cole please tell him I'd love to know what he's been working on. Love you Bug, talk to you soon."

"Will do mom, love you too and tell dad I love him and to be careful." I hear her laugh and then shout something to my dad before she hangs up on me. I chuckle at my parents as I toss my phone back into my purse.

Getting hungry I stop at a grocery store on my way home and pick up a few things for dinner and a couple of other groceries. I drive the rest of the way home in a good mood singing along to the radio like I normally would. I pull into the driveway and turn my car off. I walk around to the trunk and grab the groceries then lock my car as I make my way to the front door.

I try to unlock the door while juggling the groceries because heaven forbid I have to make two trips. "HA!" I shout as I'm finally able to shove the door open. I kick the door shut behind me and make my way to the kitchen to put the groceries away. I turn on the radio to ease the silence and start to dance as I put the food away. I hate putting groceries away so I have to make it fun somehow.

I get the food put away and grab a few items to make a hot sandwich. _'Mmm Panini.'_ I think asI put everything together and put the sandwich on the pan sitting ready on the hot stove. I dance in front of the stove singing into the spatula while my sandwich cooks.

In-between lyrics I hear what sounds like a crash coming from the direction of my room causing me to freeze mid twirl. I quickly turn off the radio and strain my ears to see if I can hear anything. Not hearing anything I flip the sandwich and turn the stove on low while I go to investigate.

You know those stupid scary movies where you see the dumb chick walk down a dark hallway and right into the killer; well imagine that I am that dumb chick. I've always been curious, which you could say is my downfall, and you know how the saying goes 'curiosity killed the cat'; well this time that saying proves to be true. As I turned the corner to my bedroom I see two monstrous _things_ ransacking my room.

They are both tall about 6'8", but it was hard to tell exactly because they were slightly hunched over making their unnaturally long arms reach past their weirdly double jointed knees, their fingers look like someone attached extra fingers onto their original ones because of all the extra joints and the fact that one hand alone could easily wrap around my head which really freaked me out. Their mouths were slightly open so I could see the numerous jagged sharp yellow teeth poking out of their too large mouths. They had tiny noses that sat in odd angles and their eyes looked like two black pearls sitting on a bald head that was too small for the size of its body.

They were both searching through my stuff when I walked in. My heart skipped a beat and then started to run double time causing a frightened squeak to escape my mouth, unfortunately catching their attention. My blood ran cold as they both turned to me at the same time and one of them let out a hiss that made my skin crawl. I quickly grabbed the door handle and slammed the door shut. I then took off running at high speed to the front door, but I ended up slamming into what felt like a brick wall causing me to land on my butt.

Before I could react a scale covered hand grabs ahold of my wrist and roughly yanks me to my feet. I let out a scream as it lifts up me till my toes barely brush the ground. He brings me face to face with him and the smell of his putrid breath makes me gag.

He seems to be about as tall as the other creatures, but he resemble more of a lizard than whatever those _things_ before were and I can definitely tell that he's a male; seeing as he had more humanly features.

His body is covered in bluish green scales, he has thick taut muscles that cover every inch of his body, he has a tail similar to a lizard that flicks back and forth at the tip, he has holes where his nose and ears should be, his mouth stretches from one ear hole to the other full of razor sharp teeth, and his eyes are such a bright yellow that they make the black slits of his pupils stand out like black pits.

I let out another scream as I hear the other two creatures break down the door and make their way over to us. I start to wiggle around and the lizard man gives me a harsh shake making my shoulder scream in pain.

"Shut your stupid human mouth. Nobody's coming to save you so you might as well save your breath." Lizard man says with a slight lisp as he brings his attention back to the other two creatures. He says something to them in what I'm guessing is Japanese, but I don't understand it. I'm guessing he didn't like the answer because he let out a hiss then brings his attention back to me.

"Where is it girl?" Lizard man says as he gives me another shake. I can feel my heart pounding in my ears and tears start to come to my eyes as I start to panic.

"Where is what?! My purse is on the counter if that's what you want and I have a piggy band in the hall closet!" I frantically say praying that he'll let me go. A sudden slap to my face causes my head to twist painfully to the side and the taste of blood washes over my tongue.

"Don't play stupid with me human! I know who you are, Emma Fennec, and you must know where it's at so start talking!" I flinch at the harshness of his hissing voice not wanting him to hut me again, but I can't help the feeling of total confusion that creeps into the back of my mind.

"I don't know what you're after so please just let me go!" Terrified I try to plead with the lizard man, but get nowhere as he gives me another hiss. I start to struggle and it's then that I notice the spatula still in my right hand. In my panicked state I do the only thing that I can think of.

"Let me go!" I reach back and slam the spatula as hard as I can into the lizard man's face. I'm rewarded by being thrown into the wall behind me. My world spins, but I'm fee so I quickly stand up and try to make a run for it.

Before I can get even two steps lizard man is in front of me with a look of murder on his face. He grabs me by the throat and squeezes, I frantically scratch at the hand around my throat. I feel the world start to go dark from the lack of oxygen. He seems to notice because he loosens his grip just enough so I can take a few gasping breaths.

"You stupid little bitch. I'll make you regret that, now tell me where the conduit is." He loosens his hold on my neck just a hair more so I can speak.

"I-I don't know what that is." I rasp out tears flowing out of my eyes. His hold tightens and I claw at his hand even more while trying to kick him. "You know you humans are so pathetic, all I have to so is squeeze my hand and I could kill you." His hand tightens even more and I can feel my face turn red from the lack of oxygen. He loosens his grip again right before I pass out.

"You're lucky that you're worth more alive than dead, otherwise I'd have killed you by now." A twisted smile spreads on the lizard man's face. I can feel my body start to shake from fear, but it's quickly forgotten as a fist makes contact with my head making my world go black.


	2. Chapter 2: Just the Beginning

**Chapter 2**

 **Just the Beginning**

I wake up with a splitting headache and a very sore throat. I groan as I rub the lump on my head. When I touch my head everything that just happened slams into my mind at once and I quickly open my eyes. I take a frantic look around, but am unable to see very well because the only light is coming from the small crack under the door.

' _Shit shit shit! This isn't good! I've seen way to many horror movies to know what's going to happen to me next!'_ I shudder at the thought. _'I need to get out of here!'_

I go to stand up and my head makes contact with something solid. I look up to see just black so I reach my hands up and feel a cold metal surface. I get onto my knees and start to crawl forward, but am met with thick metal bars. I reach through the bars hoping to find a latch and find a hole for a key.

' _Shiiiiitt!_ ' I mentally yell as I viciously shake the bars hoping that they'd give, but they don't. I resort to pulling on them hoping that I somehow got the strength to bend them, but no luck there either.

"Damn it." I fall back onto my butt and scoot myself into a corner. I pull my knees up to my face and try to squash down the panic attack that's threating to take over my body.

"It'll be ok Emma; somebody has to know you're gone and will come looking for you." I take deep breaths as tears start to prick the back of my eyes and my throat clenches painfully. I can't hold the tears back any longer and I bury my face into my knees as I cry. I don't have very long for my pity party as I hear the squeak of a metal door opening, my head shoots up in the direction of the door.

I curl myself into a tighter ball as I hear footsteps making their way to my cage. I see someone lean down to open the cage and my mind starts to race.

' _Now's my chance!'_ I think to myself as they pull the cage door open. I jump up and try to make a break for it, but whoever it was grabs my hair and yanks me back to them with an animalistic growl.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you human." A rough deep voice growls out as I let out a pathetic whimper. He lets go of my hair and grabs a hold of my upper arm; I trip over my own feet as he basically drags me out of the dark room. I'm blinded for a second by the light of the hallway, but after a few blinks I take the chance to look around.

I'm in what must me a basement of sorts, with concrete floors and a multitude of doors like the one I came out of lining the walls. I take a good look at my captor and see that he looks almost exactly like the first lizard man I met, but this guy has red scales and only one blue eyes, the other one is scared over.

"Where are you taking me?" I whimper out, but he just growls at me in reply and tugs me along faster. We make our way down the hallway and through a door and then up a flight of stairs. I try to keep up, but my capture yanks me every time I fall behind causing me to stumble, which in turn makes him drag me.

We finally make it into a large office like room with a fireplace going. My captor throws my into a chair in the middle of the room and attaches my hands and legs to leather straps. When he let's go I start to struggle, trying to break the straps.

"Quick your squirming bitch." My captor says while he stands next to me with his arm raised as if her were going to hit me.

"Now now Zee that's not a very nice thing to say to our new guest, now is it?" A cold, intimidating voice scolds him in choppy English. Zee doesn't respond, but slowly lowers his hand back to his side. I crane my neck to see the new person coming into the room.

He's a man, a human looking man, with very little graying black hair combed over, cold dark almost black colored eyes, medium height, with tanned skin, and at least a good 200lbs.

The man makes his way over to us and stands in front of me. He looks me over with hungry dark eyes and everywhere his eyes go I can feel my skin crawl in disgust.

"Who are you and why am I here?!" I shout out with a shaky voice.

"Oh how rude of me! My names Zanryuu, it's a pleasure to meet you Emma Fennec." He gives me a deep mocking bow and I scowl at him at his straightens himself. "You are here because you unfortunately have ties to the conduit and we need to find out where it is." He gives me a cold smile as he finishes.

"I don't even know what this conduit thing even is! Please just let me go!" I plead with him as I struggle with the restraints again.

"Well I guess we'll have to do this the hard way then." His face twists into a fierce smile as he turns his back to me and walks towards the fire place. He reaches down and grabs a fire poker that's sitting in the flames and my body breaks out into a cold sweat.

He makes his way back over to me with the hot poker and I start to struggle even more my heart pounding in my chest like it's trying to escape.

"Now sit still, this will hurt a lot more if you keep squirming like that." He puts the red hot poker against my stomach and I freeze and push myself as far away from the poker as possible.

"Now I'm going to ask you one last time. Where is the Conduit?"

I shake my head. "I don't know! I don't know what that is!" I let out an ear piercing scream as he slowly shoves the red hot poker into my abdomen. The smell of burning flesh enters my nose and I gag. Thankfully the poker is so hot that it cauterizes the wound as he stabs me so I fortunately or unfortunately don't bleed out.

"You must know where it is. So just be a good girl and tell me where it's at." He makes a second hole in my abdomen and I scream out again tears of pain and fear streaming down my face.

"I don't know!" I manage to scream out through the pain. "Please stop!" I sob out.

He stares at me while he holds the poker in my skin trying to see if I'm lying or not. "Hmm well that's a shame." He says as he pulls the poker out. I'm gasping for breath from the pain as he turns around and places the poker back into the fire place.

"It's too bad for you that you don't know where it's at. It would have been a lot easier on you if you did." I whimper from the pain as tears stream down my face. Zanryuu wipes the tears away with his rough thumb causing me to flinch away.

"Don't worry my dear; we won't be killing you, yet. We still have some use for you." He says with a smile then wipes his hands off on a handkerchief. He gestures at Zee to take me away as he exits the room.

"Come on girly let's get you back to your room." Zee states as he roughly unlatches the straps and hauls me up. I let out another scream as he bumps my wounds.

He slaps me causing me to bite my tongue. "Shut up, you're giving me a headache." He states as he drags me out of the room and back the way we came. I try to walk, but find that my legs are to wobbly so I just let him drag me.

We reach my room and he throws me into the cage and locks the door. He leaves the room and I crawl into a fetal position and cry myself to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3: Tortured

**Chapter 3**

 **Tortured**

I jolt awake from my restless sleep by someone yanking me out of my cage by my arm. I let out a pained noise as I feel my burn wounds stretch open. I try to get my feet underneath me, but I'm being dragged so rough and fast that it just seems to make things worse for me. I cringe when I see that it's one of those creatures from my house dragging me.

I notice that when we reach the top of the stairs that we don't go into the room that I met Zanryuu in yesterday. No, this room was more like an operation room, with white walls, bright lights, and the sharp scent of disinfectant.

The room is mostly empty aside from a metal table in the middle of the room and next to it is a small table with all sorts of terrifying surgical tools laid out in a neat orderly fashion. I start to tug and claw at the hand around my arm, but it just seems to make the creature dragging me angry.

Without any effort at all the creepy creature _thing_ throws me onto the metal table and straps me down so tight that I'm sure it's cutting off the circulation from my appendages.

I shake my arms and legs hoping to at least knock the table over, but find that the table is firmly planted in the ground and the cuffs are a very tough material.

' _Shit, if there is anyone listening to me right now; please don't let me die like this! Please get me out of here!'_ I feel my heart beat in my throat as tears of fear start to leak out of the corners of my eyes. This is one of my worst fears come to life.

I hear the door open and I whip my head around to see a troll of a man walking up to me with a clip board and wearing surgical gear.

He comes up to me and looks me over, poking and prodding in places that shouldn't be poked or prodded making a few noises in his throat as he examines me. He writes a few things down onto his clip board before he brings his attention up to me.

"So it's Emma Fennec, am I correct?" He asks me in a sharp no nonsense type of voice. I clear my throat before I give him a weak "Y-Yes."

"Do you have any prior medical conditions or surgeries? Are you sexually active? When was your last menstrual cycle? Do you have a history of mental illness?" He rambles a few more questions that I don't catch.

I hesitantly shake my head "No, yes, umm two weeks ago maybe, and no. What is this for?" I see him write this all down onto his clip board ignoring my question.

"W-what are you going to do?" I manage to say, not really wanting to know, but still wanting to mentally prepare myself for the worse.

"We're just going to do a few minor surgical experiments, nothing you need to worry about." He shrugs it off like it's an everyday occurrence and my blood runs cold at the thought. I feel my breathing start to come in short fast bursts and I have to close my eyes to ease the panic attack away.

"I don't understand why I'm here, please just let me go." My voice sounds weak and panicked, even to my own ears, as I try to plead with him while more tears start to fall down the side of my face.

"I can't do that. You are the first live female twin patient that I've had in a long time and I have a list of experiments that I'd like to run. It's a shame we couldn't find the other one." He says the last part to himself as he turns around and hands his clip board to the creature that dragged me here and walks over to the surgical tools.

A sob escapes my lips as I close my eyes not wanting to see what he'll be grabbing. I hear metal clinking against metal as he messes around with the tools till he finds the right one. I start to struggle again when I hear him walk up to the side of the table and I flinch as I feel a cold metal tool against my skin, but relax slightly when I realize he's just cutting my clothes off and not my skin.

I shiver as I now lay there naked on the cold metal table. I make the fatal mistake of looking over at Dr. Troll just to see him grabbing a scalpel and what I'm guessing is a bone saw. I pull at the restraints so hard that I can feel my muscles straining to the point of being painful and the leather biting into my skin.

"Please don't do this-" My pleas are muffled as he places a cloth into my mouth to keep me quiet.

"Now this may sting a little." He says with amusement in his voice as he puts a mask on his face and moves towards me with the scalpel.

I start to squirm and struggle as he gets closer and I hear him sigh. He looks up to the creature that's just standing there watching. "Will you do something about her squirming? I want to make sure my cuts are exact otherwise she might bleed out and I want to keep her alive as long as possible."

The creature walks up to me and gives me a quick punch to the temple. My head lolls to the side and my struggling slows as I see stars. I welcome the darkness creeping around the edge of my vision, but it seems to evade me and then disappear all too quickly as I feel the sting of the scalpel as he cuts my abdomen open.

I scream and then bite as hard as I can into the cloth making my teeth and jaw ache, but it doesn't even register over the pain in my abdomen.

"Very good." He says as the feeling of hot sticky blood makes its way down my abdomen and puddles underneath my back. I give another muffled scream as I feel him making more incisions.

' _It hurts, it hurts! Please make it stop hurting! Please I can't take it anymore!'_ My mind becomes a blur of pain and panic. I bang my head against the metal table in the hopes of knocking myself out, but with a wave of Dr. Troll's bloody hand the creature comes up behind me and holds my head still.

I keep hoping that I'll pass out as I feel the pressure of his hands inside me and as the puddle of blood underneath me grows. Tears stream down my face and I sob when I hear the bone saw start up. I feel my lungs struggling for oxygen as the panic attack that I pushed away earlier comes back.

I can feel the tearing of tissue and muscles against my bones as he cuts and saws. The sound of it all is almost as bad as the feeling. There were a few times where I thought that I was going to be sick, but every time I heaved the pain got worse, so I made myself stop.

I can hear and feel my bones cracking and I can see spurts of blood spray out of my body as he cuts too deep in certain areas. Finally the pain got to the point where my mind couldn't handle it anymore and I welcomed the blissful darkness that finally took me.

I'm taken out of the blissful painless black hole by someone pouring water over my head. I jerk and gasp out in pain as my body slowly wakes up and I can feel every muscle in my body screaming in pain.

' _Holy shit on fire, everything hurts._ ' I think to myself as I look at the bandages covering almost my entire middle region. It's then that I finally notice that I'm strapped into the same chair that I was the first day I got here.

' _I don't even know how long I've been here. It's felt like days, but it could have easily been a week.'_ I groan out in pain as I move my head. _'Why am I back in this stupid chair?! Isn't it enough that they freaking cut me open?!'_ My mental debate is interrupted by the devil himself.

"Oh good your awake." Zanryuu says as he steps into my view. He reaches down and grabs my chin and turns my head left and right examining my face.

"So I'm going to ask you a few questions and you're going to answer them." He lets go of my face when he's sure that I heard him.

"And if I don't." My voice sounds raw and it hurts to I speak, but I manage to get the words out loud enough for him to hear. He shakes his head at me as if I were a child asking for a treat before dinner.

"Then Toshi over there will make you." He nods his head over to my left. I look over to see the lizard man that originally kidnapped me and he has a vicious smile on his face like he couldn't wait to 'make me talk'.

"Now let's get started. Where is your brother, Cole Fennec?" Zanryuu doesn't waste any time as he gets straight to the point. I look at him in shock, why would this man want to know where my brother is what does he have to do with any of this?

' _What did you get yourself into Cole?'_ I think as dread fills my gut. _'What did you get_ _ **me**_ _into?'_

"I don't know." I had an idea of where my brother is, but I wasn't positive and even if I did know I'd rather die than tell these bastards.

My brother may be selfish and argumentative at times, but he's also caring and sweet. He's my brother no matter what and I love him. And being born a few minutes earlier than him that makes me his big sister and a big sister protects her little brother from scary men like Zanryuu.

Zanryuu narrows his eyes at me as he stares me down. "You expect me to believe that you have no idea where your brother is? I think you're lying, Toshi." He motions over at Toshi and steps aside. Toshi comes up in front of me with a sick grin on his face.

He pulls out a giant extremely sharp looking knife from a holder on his hip and he passes it in front of my face making sure that I see it. I cringe and that seems to make his smile even wider. "Now let's see… What shall I do first?" He hums to himself as he thinks. "Oh I know! I still owe you for that little stunt you pulled. Humans don't need two eyes do they?"

Before I could respond with a 'Hell yes!' he has the knife at my right eye, I clench my eyes shut and he forces my eye back open. I feel a fiery pain before everything goes black on that side of my face.

I let out an ear piercing scream. "Shut up!" He shouts and he punches me causing my body to jerk against the restraints and I can feel stiches ripping as hot blood starts to coat the bandages wrapped around my body.

I squeeze my eyes shut from the burning sensation and I feel something hot leaking down the right side of my face and I don't know if it's tears or blood. I feel my body start to go into shock as I start to shiver and break out into a cold sweat.

"That's enough Toshi." Zanryuu orders, he then roughly grabs my chin again and makes me open my left eye to look at him. I blink a few times causing my right eye to burn; it feels odd only being able to see out of one eye.

"You really are a pretty one; it's almost a shame to mess up such a pretty face." He lets go roughly as I give him a weak one eyed glare which he either doesn't seem to notice or just doesn't care. He starts to pace back and forth in front of me making me anxious.

"Now that could have been easily avoided if you had just told me the truth." Zanryuu tsks me as he stops pacing. "Now, where is Cole Fennec?" He asks again crossing his arms over his chest as he stares me down.

"I don't know." I say through clenched teeth. "We haven't talked or seen each other in years so I don't know where hell he's at!"

' _Liar._ ' I think to myself, but I use my best helpless pleading voice hoping that it'll convince him. I hear him sigh as he uncrosses his arms.

"Well I guess you really are a useless bitch after all." He says in disgust as he looks his nose down at me. _'And you're a stupid fat bald bastard.'_ I curse him in my head. "Toshi take her back to her cell, I'll tell the Doctor that she's all his." He then walks out of the room.

My heart drops to my stomach at the mention of the Doctor. _'No, not him again, please anything, but that.'_ I don't have very much time to think as Toshi rips the straps off and roughly throws me over his shoulder.

I let out a pained scream as his should hits the stiches and I feel more of them pop open. I feel him chuckle so he had to have done this just to make me hurt more. _'I don't understand what these people want from me. I'm nobody, why does this have to happen to me?'_

We make our way down the stairs and Toshi makes sure to hit every stair a little harder than normal so that his shoulder jabs into my gut with every step his tail even hit me in the face at one point.

' _Why does he want to cause me such pain?'_ I cry out with each rough step and am silently grateful when we reach the bottom.

We reach my room and he literally throws me into the back of the cage. My head hits the bars and I see stars. He sneers at me as he shuts and locks the door to the cage then walks off.

I try to curl up into a fetal position, but find that it's too painful so I just lay there on my back as I break down in tears. I reach my hand up to touch my right eye and find that it's just a messy jagged hole now. I unwrap a few of the cleaner bandages around my stomach and carefully wrap them around my head to cover my missing eye in hope that it'll stop some of the bleeding.

"Why is this happening to me?" I sob out touching the sticky bloody bandages on my now open wounds. I close my eye trying to force myself to sleep and maybe never wake up. Thoughts of my brother and then the rest of my family flash through my mind.

' _Cole what have you done to have these kinds of people after you? Does it have to do with that top secret project you've been working on? Is that what this Conduit is?'_ I slowly turn to my side so I can press my face against the cool metal bars of the cage.

' _I don't know what's going on Cole, but you better be safe. Please if there's anyone listening to me now, please keep my family safe.'_ Those were my last thoughts as I drift off into a deep sleep filled with unpleasant dreams.


	4. Chapter 4: A Welcomed Death

**Chapter 4**

 **A Welcomed Death**

My time here has become a big blur of pain and loneliness. I don't know how to keep track of time between 'experiments' and being locked in a cage surrounded by nothing but darkness. Hours feel like days and days feel like weeks. I do a lot of sleeping and thinking.

I've lost track of how many times I've tried to escape- none of them successful of course. There was one time that I got close to actually escaping, but I was abruptly tackled by Dr. Troll- after he recovered from the crippling nut shot I gave him.

He tried to mentally break me after that. He was good at it too, but I wouldn't let him have the satisfaction of breaking me. I'm just stubborn that way.

When that wouldn't work he amputated one of my feet. He referred to it as 'clipping my wings.'- I knew the bastard just wanted to see me suffer though.

I think my only blessing was when Dr. Troll has lost interest in me. So now they've just left me down here to rot.

For a time I was given a small amount of rotten or stale food every now and then along with some water, but now I receive nothing.

No experiments equals no food. I just can't win…

I'm not complaining or anything (about the experiment part at least), but I can tell with each passing day my body is slowly withering away.

' _What a great way to go. With everything that they've done to me I end up starving to death laying in my own filth; how ironic.'_ I think to myself as I struggle to breath.

My body has become so emaciated that you could count every one of my ribs if you wanted to. I'm so hungry that my stomach feels like it's filled with knives and my throat is so dry that I'm afraid that it's going to crack open. I don't have the energy to move anymore and it's beginning to become difficult to breath.

I have raw sore spots on my hips and shoulders from where I've laid on the metal floor for too long without moving. And don't even get me started on my hair as it has become one massive dread-lock.

I have become so numb to everything now that I feel like a zombie half of the time. It's been what feels like weeks since they have come down to check on me. I keep hoping that someone will set me free.

I know I'm too much of an optimist.

I can't deny the fact that I'm dying; I can feel it with every slow beat of my heart. I can feel deaths grip tightening around me with every struggling breath. I don't have the energy or will power to move anymore and I'm pretty sure some of my wounds have gotten infected from the way they smell.

There have been days when I hope that maybe if I go to sleep that I won't wake up, but I still do.

It takes me way too much effort to slowly blink my one eye open as I hear the door open. Two sets of footsteps make their way over to my filthy cage.

"Ugh it smells awful in here. Are you sure she's not dead?" Zanryuu's voice makes me cringe, but I no longer have the energy left to lift my head let alone say anything back. Lucky for him I guess because I have some choice words for him- and none of them nice.

"Yes sir, but she won't last very much longer. What should we do with her?" I recognize Zees' voice answering him. Zanryuu makes a grunting noise as he thinks.

"She's no use to us, just dispose of her." I can hear the disgust in Zanryuu's voice as he says this and then I hear his footsteps fade away as he leaves. I hear my cage door squeak open and I feel Zee pull my out of the cage by my leg. I get some satisfaction when he has to crawl slightly in the cage to reach me.

"Filthy pathetic human." He grumbles as he throws me over his shoulder. I feel like a rag doll as my head and arms just flop around against his back. I can barely keep my eye open as he walks us somewhere. My mind is so fuzzy that I can't even pay attention to were he's taking me- not like it matters anyways.

The sudden light flooding my eye makes me go temporarily blind and as I take a ragged breath and the scent of rain faintly hits my noise. When I finally get my sight back I can see that the ground in now covered in grass.

I wish that I could move my head so I could see where we were, but I settled with catching glimpses of grass and rock. _'It's been so long since I've been outside…'_

Zee then stops and throws me onto the ground like a sack of potatoes. My head flops to the side as if broken and even though it hurt I'm glad that I can finally see the cloudy sky. I notice that we are in the middle of a forest and for some reason that thought puts me at ease.

I close my eye as I take in weak lungfuls of fresh air. The grass feels so amazing on my tender skin and the sun feels even better.

If I had any tears left I'd be crying right now. My blissful moment is ruined as Zee's shadow blocks the sun from my face. I struggle to open my eye and see him kneeling in front of me with a knife.

' _Well I guess this is it… At least I got to see the sun one last time.'_ I think as I close my eyes and welcome death with open arms.

I feel the cool blade against my throat and then hot blood seeping out of the wound as he cuts my throat open. He leaves me there to bleed out alone and I feel a twinge of sadness in the back of my mind at the thought of dying alone.

I can feel my heart slow as it struggles to push the dehydrated blood throughout my body. As the blood slowly leaves through the cut my breaths come out in gasps. My vision starts to fade as death closes in and I don't fight it; instead I give a weak smile as I take one last look at the sky.

The last thing I remember was the sound of thunder as the clouds opened up and then the marvelous feeling of rain on my face as if the sky was crying for me because I no longer could.

Then there was a flash of light and everything was gone…Or so I thought.

* * *

 **So this chapter is a little shorter than normal, but I'm excited to say that the Yu Yu Hakusho gang is in the next chapter!**

 **I have this whole story pretty much worked out in my head, but it's a lot harder than I thought it'd be to put it down in writing. I tend to read and reread the chapters (more times then I should) before posting them and it seems the more I read them the more I change. So if there are any mistakes that I missed I will be more than happy to try and fix them.**

 **A very big thank you to my first reviewer** **Eggyn! You have no idea how happy I was to see that someone out there is reading my story and that they liked it enough to review it! Thank you! You totally made my day! :D**


	5. Chapter 5: Didn't I Die?

**Chapter 5**

 **Didn't I Die?**

I wake up gasping for air and coughing when I take too much of it in. I snap my eyes open and shoot up from the spot I was laying in. I look around wildly as everything comes rushing back. I notice that I'm sitting in the middle of a forest…somewhere.

"What the hell just happened?! I died, I know I did. I felt my heart stop!" I look at my hands then my feet noticing that I now have both and a thought hits me. I about slap myself in the face as I feel my right eye.

"My eye is back." I look down at my bare feet again. "And so is my foot." I wiggle my toes as my hand covers my eye trying to make sure it's actually there. "Maybe I really am dead and this is heaven."

I see that somehow I got a new change of clothes. Except I wouldn't call them new-or clothes-seeing as they are more like well-worn pieces of material covering all the 'essentials', but that's just a fleeting thought as my mind tries to recover from its shock.

I put my hand down slowly from my face and fall onto my butt as my knees give out. I place a hand on my neck trying to feel the spot where the knife cut and my fingers are met with smooth skin.

My thoughts start to run wild trying to figure out what happened. Everything feels like a dream or more specifically a nightmare.

"I don't understand, I'm dead…or…or I should be dead." I whisper to myself. "That couldn't have been a dream I _felt_ everything, but this can't be a dream either, right?" Just to make sure I pinch myself as hard as I can with my oddly sharp finger nails.

"Ouch! Ok, so this definitely isn't a dream." I wrap my arms around my legs and place my head onto knees. "What's happening to me?"

A sob escapes my lips as I think of what's happening and what _did_ happen. I think of everything that I went through and as the tears finally stop laughter bubbles out of my throat. I can't stop the hysterical laughter that's making its way out of my body as I have a slight mental break down.

"HA! How ironic is this! I finally get to die and then I'm brought back to life! The big man upstairs needs to stop playing games with me because this shit isn't funny!" I look up into the sky.

"You hear that?! This shit isn't funny anymore!" I yell at the sky and take a deep breath feeling just slightly better after yelling at the sky like a crazed woman.

I lie down and close my eyes as I take in the sun warming my skin. _'I really don't care how it happened, but I'm alive again and free of those bastards!'_ I smile at the sky. _'Oh how I missed you sun.'_

My mental musings are interrupted as a rustling noise to my left catches my attention. Everything suddenly goes silent before a few birds go flying out of a bush in a panic. I sit up straight looking at the dense forest with wild eyes; not quite sure if I want to stick around to find out what scared them.

I don't have to wait very long to figure out what made the birds fly off as a massive ogre like creature emerges from the forest.

It looks like something you'd find in a movie or even a video game. It's about as tall as the tree it's standing next to and twice as wide. Its' one foot alone is almost as big as I am tall and I'm 5'7". It has two tusk-like teeth that stick out of its mouth, a pig like snub nose, gray skin, and beady little black eyes that are now focused on the only thing around- which happens to be me.

My breath catches in my lungs as I freeze where I sit. My mind stops working for a second as the ogre starts to stomp over towards me with a wild hunger in its beady little eyes. Before I can process what's happening my fight-or-flight instincts take over and I'm up and running as fast as my legs will take me in the opposite direction of the ogre.

"This is definitely not heaven!" I shout terrified.

I can hear the ogre give a loud shriek like roar as its next meal gets away and I can feel the ground rumble as it starts to give chase.

An all too girly scream makes its way out of my mouth.

"Shit shit shit!" I scream as I take a quick look behind me and see that the ogre is catching up fast. I let out another scream and push myself to run even faster as the ogre throws a tree at me and thankfully misses.

' _What kind of monster throws a fucking tree?!'_

I turn my focus back on the forest in front of me hoping that I won't trip. "I'm sorry for shouting at you man upstairs! But I am _really_ tried of these damn games!" I shout in anger as my legs and lungs start to burn. I take a sharp right and almost trip when I stub my bare foot on a lifted tree root trying to out maneuver the ogre, but thankfully I catch myself in time.

I give a triumphant shout when I look back to see the ogre didn't make the turn quick enough causing it to slip and fall; taking out a few trees and a boulder before it comes to a complete stop.

But my winning moment is over all too fast as it gets up with an angry shout and takes off after me again, but this time it's _pissed_.

"What the hell man!" I yell as I try to run even faster-panic trying to override my common sense. I look around and see an opening to the left and I take another sharp turn making sure I look ahead for tree roots and such as I head towards the clearing.

I jump over a string help up by wood posts with little papers hanging off of it. I brush aside the warning bells in my head that I shouldn't head that way because it can't be worse than a pissed off hungry ogre. I break through the forest wall and into the clearing just to have my blood run cold from the sight.

There had to be at least seven or eight people there all sitting around tables enjoying themselves. They don't even react when they see me.

' _Shit what did I do?! There are so many people here! They must be having a party and I brought a pissed off ogre here! It's going to kill them!'_ I mentally scold myself as I skid to a stop.

I do the first thing that pops into my head. "Run!" I scream at them when I hear the ogre break out of the forest behind me, but nobody moves as they all continue to look at me as if they're not scared at all.

A couple of the guys usher the girls farther away from where I'm at, but that's about the extent of it.

I'm distracted trying to figure out why no one is reacting so I don't see the tree that the ogre swings at me till it's too late to dodge. The tree hits me with full force in the back causing the air to be knocked out of me, but I'm still able to let out a cry of pain as I'm sent flying forwards and unfortunately into a table with people. Thankfully the people saw me coming and were able to move out of the way in time.

I gasp of air like a fish out of water trying to catch my breath while I lie in a dazed crumpled mess on top of a broken table. I hear one of the guys say something in what I'm guessing is Japanese to the girls, I slowly sit up rubbing my back just in time to see a man in a black coat with blacked spiked hair pull out a sword and make quick work of the ogre.

If I wasn't it such a state of shock I might have been grossed out by all of the gore, but I didn't think twice about it.

I stare at him, out of breath and dumbfounded while my mind is still in a panic from the adrenaline rush. I then look around at everyone else as they all start to circle around me. My mind finally catches back up to my body and I clear my throat as I get nervous.

"Uhhh I'm sorry about that. That thing was chasing me and I didn't know there was anyone here, but it looks like you handled it just fine." I glance back at the pieces of the ogre and then the man that made it happen. I swallow nervously.

I stand up glancing at everyone while rubbing my back. I then look back at the table that I landed on.

"And I'm sorry about that too." I hear one of the guys ask the other something in Japanese, but I don't understand it. "Umm ok… Can anyone tell me where I'm at?"

I try to walk away from the broken table, but the man with the sword is immediately upon me with said sword pointed at me. I freeze mid-step and put my hands in the air to show that I mean no threat. Seeing as I just witnessed what he could do with that sword I didn't really want to end up in little pieces like the ogre.

Quicker than I can blink he has the sword pressed against my throat. I feel the cool metal cutting into the skin and fear crosses my mind as I meet his strangely ruby colored eyes dead on.

I flinch against the blade causing it to cut into my skin and the feeling of warm blood starts to trickle down to my chest. I shut my eyes when the feeling of the blade that ended my life enters my mind.

"I'm not here to hurt anyone and I don't want to die, but I am no longer afraid of death." I open my scared green eyes to meet his anger filled red ones head on. He growls at me and he narrows his eyes at my gaze.

"Hiei!" I hear a soft kind female voice yell (which oddly reminds me of the sound of bells chiming) followed by a few words in Japanese. The man holding the sword, which I'm assuming is Hiei, glances at the voice behind me then grunts before the blade is no longer pressed to my neck.

I look around to see everyone staring at me with wary eyes. A girl with teal colored hair and beautiful ruby eyes (like the man with the sword but kinder) comes rushing up to me. She starts saying stuff to me in Japanese, but I just cock my head to the side in confusion.

"I'm sorry, but I don't speak Japanese." I watch her frown at me and then see her face go soft again when she glances down at my neck.

Her hands start to glow as she reaches them out to me and my first reaction is to close my eyes and flinch away as if she were going to hit me. After a few seconds pass and nothing happens I crack my eyes open to look at her concern filled eyes.

She looks over my face and a look of determination enters her face. She then reaches out to me again, but this time slower as if I were a scared animal. I close my eyes tight when she touches my neck expecting the worse, but instead feel a cooling sensation flowing over my neck as she touches me. I open my eyes to stare at her in wonder.

When she finally pulls back I reach up and touch my neck to feel that she somehow healed the cut. I look at her in open mouthed amazement.

"Thank you." I don't think that she understood what I said, but she smiles anyways and gives me a short bow.

A tall guy with an orange pompadour hair style says something to me, but I don't understand him. "What? I'm sorry, but I don't understand you." He gives me a confused look then turns his attention to the guy with long red hair and says something to him and he says something back in response.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you guys are saying. Does anybody here speak English?" Looking at everyone as they keep speaking in Japanese I give a frustrated sigh, feeling totally out of the loop.

"I speak some." My head perks up and I look at the redheaded man with a timid relieved smile.

"Oh thank goodness! It's been one hell of a day and I don't know what's going on or where I am. One moment I'm dead and then the next I'm running from that thing!" I point over at the dismembered ogre.

A short old lady with graying pink hair clears her throat and says something in an irritated voice to the redhead as she gestures towards me. I see the redhead nod before he turns his intense gaze back to me. "Who are you and why are you here?" He gets a serious look on his face as he watches me with calculating eyes.

"Oh, my names Emma Fennec and I have no idea how I got here or where _here_ is." He translates what I said to the others and they shoot off more questions.

"Earlier you said that you died, if that were true how are you standing before us?" He asks with curiosity in his unnerving green eyes. I look down at my feet as I think about my death.

"I did die. I can still remember the feeling of the blade against my throat and the way my heart stopped beating and the feeling of the rain on my face as I took my last breath." My words come out weak as I put a hand to my throat still expecting to feel a cut.

"I know I died." I whisper the last part mostly to myself then look up at him, but he seems to of heard me anyways. He nods his head and translates what I said to the others.

They all shoot off more question, but the older lady shouts something and everyone gets quiet. She then looks at me with a stern face as she says something to me then points at the temple like building behind her.

I look up at the redhead for clarification. "She wants you to go inside while we call someone that may be able to figure out what happened." I nod my head not really seeing any other option at this point. I follow her and the rest of the group inside feeling guilty that I ruined their party.

* * *

 **Yay the first glimpse of the Yu Yu Hakusho gang! I've been working six days a week lately so I'll try and get the chapters up as fast as I can, but don't be discouraged if it takes me a few days.  
**

 **A shout out to Jewel4Sky for reviewing! Thank you everyone for taking the time to read my story, I hope you are enjoying it so far! :D**


	6. Chapter 6: The Ruler of What?

**Chapter 6**

 **The Ruler of What?**

When we get to the building I see everyone taking their shoes off as we are about go inside and I look down at my mud covered feet with a frown.

"Umm my feet are dirty." I say as I look up to the redhead. He seems to see my dilemma; he then walks inside and then right back out holding a pair of slippers. He sets them down for me and I tell him thanks before I slip them on.

The redhead follows close behind me as we follow the others and I'm gestured into what looks to be a sitting room. I follow everyone's lead and sit on a pillow. Everyone sits in front of me, staring at me with wary unfriendly eyes and whispers.

I shift uncomfortably and look around worriedly wondering if I got myself in another bad situation. I can feel myself start to panic and I try to take deep breaths to calm myself.

I look around at everyone and I see the girl with the teal hair and red eyes from before give me a warm smile which somehow helps calm my nerves a little.

Finally the awkward silence is broken when a toddler with a pacifier in his mouth walks in.

I can't help myself as a smile spills onto my face as I coo at the toddler; I've always had a soft spot for children. "Aww! Aren't you cute?" I have to restrain myself from picking the toddler up and hugging him.

The guy with the greased back hair busts out laughing at my cooing and I see the toddler get red in the face as he shouts something in Japanese to the guy.

"Wow it looks like somebody needs a nap." I mutter to myself and I see the redhead bite his thumb as he tries not to laugh out of the corner of my eye. The toddler turns his attention to me and he points a chubby finger at me as he starts to say things.

My mind is still in cute baby mode while I stare at him. "I know you're trying to tell me something, but I have no freaking idea what you're saying. But you've got a cute little grumpy face!" I cock my head to the side trying with all my might to understand him, but I just look at him confused.

I look over at the redhead "Where are his parents? Does he want me to hold him or something?" He shakes his head no and I look back at the toddler even more confused.

Before I can say anything else the redhead speaks up for me and the toddler nods his head as he shouts for someone. _'Wow this kid is very verbal.'_

I look up to see a girl with blue hair and pink eyes walk over to the toddler carrying a metal briefcase. She hands it to the toddler and he opens it and starts digging around inside of it. I watch on with curious eyes not knowing what's going on. He seems to have found what he's looking for because he makes an 'ah-ha!' noise and then hands the item to me.

I look down at what he just gave me and see that it's some sort of silver ring with a blue orb like stone sitting in the middle. I touch the orb and am surprised to find that it's warm. I look up at him again and smile.

"Uh thank you?"

He seems to get frustrated with me and says something to the redhead. I look over at him as he starts to speak. "He says that it's a translator and that you should put it on so you can understand us and we can understand you." I look down at the ring in surprise not really believing that it can actually do what he says, but slowly put it on my ring finger anyways.

As soon as I put the ring on the toddler speaks causing me to jump. "Do you understand me now?" I look at him with shocked wide eyes as I nod unable to speak at the moment.

"Good, now back to business." He clears his throat and places his hands behind his back.

"My name is Koenma and I am the ruler of the spirit realm." I stare at him in shock not believing what I'm hearing.

"Wait what's the spirit realm and you're just a child how can you be a ruler of anything? Is someone playing a trick on me? I thought we were going to talk to someone who could help." I regret the words as soon as they leave my mouth. I watch as Koenma's face gets red and some of the guys start to bust out laughing again.

"I may look like a child, but I am thousands of years old!" He clears his voice again as he tries to gain his composer. "The spirit world is one of three dimensions. It is where sentient beings (humans and demons) go after they die. This is not the equivalent of Heaven or Hell; it is sort of a station in between worlds where a soul's fate is decided. There is also the Demon world where obviously demons reside and then the Human world which is between the two worlds and where humans reside. And just so you know I _am_ the one who may be able to help you."

I give him a blank stare trying to soak all of this in. I'm pretty sure I can smell my brain shorting out at this point. "Uhhh ok… Let's just say for a second that all of that didn't sound like a load of bull, what does it have to do with me?" I'm still trying to connect all the crazy dots in my head, but I'm missing something.

"You said that your name is Emma Fennec and that you died, am I correct?" I just nod, not having anything to add seeing as someone already informed him on what's going on.

He pulls out a few files from his brief case and looks at them. "According to this Emma Fennec was a human female who lived in the United States. She went missing almost two months ago after her house burnt down. Nobody has found a body, but I have reports from my team in the United States that say her soul did in fact leave her body. The strange thing is we were unable to find it after she had passed."

He then shows me a picture of me smiling. "This is a picture of Emma Fennec and she looks nothing like you."

"That's me! I am Emma Fennec!" Something that he said suddenly registers. "Wait you said that my house burnt down?!" I bite my bottom lip as I think through my panic. "Oh man I left the stove on!" My face falls into a frown.

"But that means I have nowhere to go back to…" I look down at my hands as my shoulders fall in defeat. "My family must be worried sick; I need to call them to tell them that I'm alright!"

I sit up straight again and frantically look around for a phone, but my thoughts were interrupted by Koenma.

"I can't let you do that. Emma Fennec is dead and I cannot let you bring more grief onto that family than they already have." He says sternly and I look at him with pleading eyes.

"But I'm not dead! I'm right here! And I was kidnapped, but I'm here alive and I need to tell my family that I'm ok!" I shout at him frustrated that he doesn't believe me.

I stand up and start pacing aware of the tense cautious eyes watching me. I bite my bottom lip in thought trying to straighten all of this information out in my head. I stop in front of Koenma when I think of something.

"You said that you couldn't find my soul, right? When I was kidnapped Dr. Troll did a lot of experiments on me so maybe he did something that made me come back to life!"

"That's not possible." Those three simple words poked a hole right into my theory making it deflate in front of my eyes.

I scrub my hands down my face in frustration. "I don't know what the hell is happening, but I am Emma Fennec and I don't care what you say I need to tell my family that I'm alright, damn it!"

I barely notice that the room has gotten extremely tense with my yelling. "You obviously do not understand me. Emma Fennec was a _human_ who has _died_ ; you are a _demon_ and you are very much _alive_."

I look at him like he's grown a second head. "What?"


	7. Chapter 7: The Hard Truth

**Chapter 7**

 **The Hard Truth**

"You obviously do not understand me. Emma Fennec was a human who has died; you are a demon and you are very much alive." Koenma says with a serious look on face, or as serious as a baby can get.

I look at him in confused shock. "Wait, what? I don't understand what you mean, I _am_ human. If anything I'd be a zombie because I came back to life!" I throw my hands into the air as I sit back down.

"No you are a demon!" He runs a hand down his face in frustration. I open my mouth to speak again, but shut it when the old lady with the pink hair shouts.

"Enough of this!" She turns her attention to me. "You girl!" She points at me with a glare that makes my hair stand on end. Since I don't want her anger directed at me anymore I give her my full attention.

"Yes ma'am?" She grunts at my formality.

"You are a cat demon; the two ridiculous fuzzy appendages on top of your head give that away even if I couldn't feel your demonic aura. Now stop playing dumb and tell him what you know so we can get on with our lives!" She says and I stare at her in shock, then all too slowly I put a hand on my head to feel two fuzzy little ears sticking out of my head.

My eyes widen as I fondle my new ears. I move my hand down to where my ears used to be and feel just smooth skin. Something moving out of the corner of my eye catches my attention. I glance over to see a black fuzzy cat like tail flicking back and forth wildly.

I follow it all the way up to my butt making a surprised yelp and jumping up when I see that it's attached causing a few of the people sitting to jump and tense up in surprise.

My eyes widen and I let out a gasp as I grab the tail and stare at it. I spin around in a small circle with it in my hands as I try to look to see where it's attached to.

"I have a tail…I have a _tail_ …Why the hell do I have a tail?!" I give it a small yank to see if it is indeed attached.

"Ouch, yup I've lost my mind because I now have a tail." I mutter to myself. I keep a hold of my tail as I look at the people that are now staring at me like I've lost my mind.

The guy with the gelled hair bursts out laughing first and the orange haired guy follows suit. I can see the redhead biting his thump again as he tries not to laugh. The guy with the spikey hair is standing in a corner looking at me like I'm a fool. The girls are also giggling at me as the feeling of tension in the room lessens.

I feel my face turn red from embarrassment after my display and I slowly sit back down.

"You idiot you're a cat demon of course you have a tail." The old lady states while she lights a cigarette and takes a long drag.

"Ok, so I've officially lost my mind. I know people always called me a crazy cat lady, but now I really am a _crazy cat lady_. I must be dreaming because last time I checked I was not a demon and I definitely did not have a tail."

I look up at Koenma when he speaks and I can tell he doesn't seem to believe me. "I find your whole act hard to believe."

I sputter for a second before I can form words. "But it's not an act! What do I have to gain by lying to any of you?! I don't even know you people!" I say with an exasperated sigh. He looks to my right and I follow his gaze to see him looking at Hiei.

"I don't know, but we'll find out. Hiei, can you see what you can find?"

"Hn." Is all Hiei says as he closes his eyes.

' _Ugh! If this is a dream then I just want to wake up.'_ I think in frustration.

I thought that Hiei might have been ignoring Koenma until I feel a tickling sensation in the back of my mind and then flashes of memories start to go through my mind's eye.

I look over at Hiei again in shock to see that there's a glowing light coming out of his white head band.

I then start to see flashes of when I was a happy child playing with my brother, then of me getting picked on in school, a few of when I hit rock bottom, and then some of me talking and laughing with customers when I was working at the Coffee Hut. I then see the memories of me being tortured and cut into, then locked up in a cage in the dark by myself as I cry myself to sleep, and then finally the memories of my death.

I put my hands on my head as tears start to burn at the back of my eyes. "Stop it! I don't want to relive those memories! Get out of my head!" I shout as I squeeze my eyes shut causing a few tears to leak out.

' _I just want this nightmare to end already! I just want to go home!'_ I shout in my mind trying to push the memories back into the dark depths from where they came from. Then it all came to a stop.

"She's telling the truth. She was human, she was kidnapped, and she died." His cold voice breaks the silence. I open my eyes and look back at him with a glare and I see a look in his eyes that I can't describe, but before I can figure out what it was it's gone.

"Well that's unexpected…" Koenma says as he puts a chubby little hand on his chin in thought.

"Well Hiei is she a threat or what?" The guy with the gelled back hair asks.

Hiei snorts at his question like it was stupid to ask. "Hardly." I glare at him angry that he basically just mind raped me. I wipe the tears out of my eyes with a little more force than necessary.

' _Asshole! Keep your dirty mind-raping fingers out of my head!'_ I think as loud as I can, hoping that he can hear me. By his look he either heard me or the look on my face is making what I just thought pretty obvious.

The guy with the gelled hair nods his head before relaxing into a more comfortable position. "Well that's good to know." I stare at him dumbfounded that now they believe me.

"So if you were a human then how'd you become a demon?" The guy with the orange hair asks.

"I…I don't know." I look back down at my clasped hands. "One minute I was dying and then the next I wake up in the middle of a forest perfectly fine."

"Hmm it would seem that her soul has attached itself to the body of a demon…Interesting." Kurama says as he looks me over with calculating intrigued eyes. A shiver runs down my spine as the image of him trying to dissect me enters my mind.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not up for any more experiments so don't even think about it buddy." I give him a glare and I receive a confused look from him in return.

An urgent thought pops into my head. "So where am I exactly?" I ask as I look back to Koenma breaking his concentration.

"Japan." He answers seriously. I nod my head figuring I wasn't in the U.S. anymore.

"Shit how'd I get all the way over here? So I guess me going home is out of the question?" I look at him with sad puppy dog eyes, or I guess they'd be considered kitty cat eyes now.

"We need you to stay here until we can find out what's really going on." Koenma says in a serious voice and the room gets silent. I look down in disappointment and start to fiddle with my tail trying to fight back the tears that are threating to fall.

I have to clear my throat to get rid of the lump before speaking. "So I'm never going to see or talk to my family again?" I hear him sigh and I know his answer before he says it.

"No for all your family knows, Emma Fennec is dead and since you look nothing like her anymore you'd bring them little comfort. I'm afraid you can no longer be a part of their lives." His words hit me hard and I can't hold the tears back anymore.

"I-I understand." I whisper as the tears stream down my face and onto my clenched hands. I don't even care that everyone is staring at me as I sniffle and wipe at my eyes.

"Can we at least look for my body so they'll stop worrying?" I look at him with pleading eyes and I can see his resolve cracking.

"We'll see what happens when we find out what's going on." I give him a sad nod as I wipe at my eyes and nose. The tears just won't stop coming and I bury my face into my hands hoping that everyone will stop staring at me.

"I think that's enough prodding for one day. Come here girl since you're staying here I'll show you to your room." The old lady grunts and I look at her as she gestures impatiently for me to follow. I wipe my eyes dry and get up quickly to follow behind her.

She leads me to a room down the hall and opens the door for me. "Thank you." I almost whisper to her and she gives me a grunt in return.

I walk inside and stare at the floor as I hear her shut the door behind me. I turn around in a small circle and see that the room is mostly empty with just a small dresser and a folded up sleeping mat with a pillow on top of it in the corner.

The room is dark with no windows, but I can still see; I'm guessing it's from my new enhanced cat eyes. Not really knowing what to do I go to the far end of the room and sit in the corner.

My ears twitch as I hear people talking and arguing in the other room. I put my hands over my ears and squeeze my eyes shut, just wanting to disappear.

' _Why is life so cruel to me?'_ I bury my face into my knees with my eyes squeezed shut. My mind is on overdrive now and thoughts just keep rushing through my head. Before I know it exhaustion hits me and I'm falling asleep.


	8. Chapter 8: Introductions

**Chapter 8**

 **Introductions**

Have you ever had one of those moments where everything just feels like a dream and it's like you're walking around in a daze and then out of nowhere reality comes up and bitch slaps you right in the face?

Well I'm having one of those moments right now as I sit, huddled in the far corner of a dark room. They put me in this room so they could figure things out, but I know it's so they can keep an eye on me.

' _I was kidnapped, killed, woke up in a different body, chased by a monster, threatened, found out I'm a demon, my family's probably worried sick, and now I'm who knows where trying to hold onto the little bit of sanity I have left.'_

I know these people trust me about as far as they can throw me; that's why I can't leave. But I don't blame them, even though I know what happened to me was real I still wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't lived through it myself.

If I think about it, it all sounds like some giant elaborate charade that I'm trying to pull over them. If I was in their positions I wouldn't trust my crazy ass either! But I know that it's all true and as I sit here in the dark the memories start to replay in my mind.

Everything seems to fade away as I sit there with my knees pressed to my chest and back pressed up against the wall trying to make myself disappear while I stare at the light coming through the crack of the door.

The more I stare the more my mind plays tricks on me and tells me that I'm back in the dark room huddled up in a filth covered cage.

I can feel my breath start to come in as short panicked gasps as a panic attack takes hold of my mind. During my panic attack my mind seems to revert back to when I was in a cage. The wall against my back starts to feel like metal bars digging into my shoulder blades. Tears start to leak out of my eyes as I press my face into my knees wishing the visions away.

' _I'm scared brother, please help me.'_

I let out a whimper as I hear the door open and expect one of the lizard men to come drag me out of my cage so the Doctor can perform more 'tests'. I pull myself into a tighter ball when I hear the person hesitate and then head towards my direction.

I physically flinch when I feel a hand on my shoulder.

"P-Please no more, don't hurt me anymore." I say into my knees as I wait for the person to drag me away, but they never do. Instead I hear a soft female voice telling me that 'it's going to be alright'.

The next thing I know my body is being embraced by a pair of cool arms. They pet my head as they quietly shush me and coax me out of my panicked state.

Her soft voice seems to work as I emerge from out of the dark place of my mind and back to reality. I wrap my arms around the person like they're my life line and I sob into their shoulder as everything that has happened to me tries to work its way out.

They patiently sit there as I cry into their shoulder and they occasionally rub my back or head. When I am unable to cry anymore I pull away from them slightly embarrassed and try to wipe my eyes dry.

"I'm sorry about that it all just hit me at once."

"It's alright." She says and I look up and meet the beautiful red eyes of the sweet teal haired girl that healed me. As I look into her eyes I don't see the sympathy or uneasiness that I had expected, but instead I see understanding and compassion; like she knows exactly what I've been through and that thought is almost bittersweet.

"Thank you, umm…I'm sorry, but I don't know your name." I give her a sheepish look and she gives me a warm smile in return.

"My names Yukina and I'm really glad that I could help you." She gives me another kind smile and I give her a weak one in return. I stick my hand out for her to shake.

"You probably already know my name, but I'm Emma. It's very nice to meet you Yukina." She looks at my hand for a second before she takes it into her own small cool one and we shake.

"It's nice to meet you too Emma." I give her an actual smile this time.

"Oh! I almost forgot! I came in here to see if you were hungry." She gives me a concerned look that reminds me of the looks my mother used to give me when I wasn't feeling well. My stomach answers her before I can, as it gives a loud growl that makes her giggle.

I feel my face heat up and I look down at my stomach in embarrassment. "Actually I am a little hungry." I admit and she giggles again when my stomach lets out another roar.

"Come on, I'll show you to the dining room." She stands up and gestures for me to follow her.

I stand up and stretch my sore limbs; I don't know how long I sat there like that, but it was long enough to make my limbs ache and pop. I quickly follow her out when she makes her way out of the door.

I follow behind her like a lost sheep till we get closer to the dining room. My ears perk up at the sound of laughter and my mouth starts to water as the smell of food reaches my nose.

' _I don't care that I somehow transferred into this body when I died, in my mind I haven't eaten in forever.'_ I think to myself as I take in the delicious scents of food.

We reach the dining room rather quickly and when we enter I notice that the tone of the room becomes slightly less carefree. I feel my ears flatten as I duck my head trying to make myself as little as possible. Yukina guides me to the table and sits me down next to the redhead and herself.

She then places a plate with some kind of fish and a few other items that I can't identify, but it all smells amazing! I see her starting to eat and I take that as my cue to start too.

I look down in dismay to see that the only utensils are a pair of chopsticks. I frown having only used chopsticks once before, I don't think I'm skilled enough to eat a whole meal with them.

Not being one to turn down a challenge I take the chopsticks and fumble with them for a few seconds before I can hold them correctly in my fingers.

I can feel eyes on me as I fumble around with my food trying to get the chopsticks to work for me as easily as everyone else, but just end up getting frustrated as they just keep flipping around the food. I feel my face twist into a scowl not liking that I'm being bested by a pair of sticks.

I hear the redhead next to me chuckle and I look over at him with a wide-eyed embarrassed look. "They can be pretty tricky to get the hang of if you're not used to them. Here hold them like this." I look down at his hand as he shows me how to hold them with his pair. I try to mirror him, but my hold just doesn't seem strong enough to pick food up properly and it just slips out of my grasp, so to speak.

"Ugh! I'm about two seconds away from just eating this with my hands or stabbing it… whichever comes first." I mutter to myself as I try again. My tail starts to swish back and forth aggravated and my ears are flat against my head in concentration.

The redhead chuckles again because apparently my suffering is funny to him. I almost drop my chopsticks as he grabs my hand.

I'm mentally scolding myself for noticing that his hands are larger than mine and he also has soft callouses on his fingers.

"You're holding them to far up, push your fingers down more- just like that. Good, now try it."

Now feeling flustered for another reason I reply with a meek "Ok, thank you."

I try to fight the blush creeping up onto my cheeks by focusing on what he told me. I make a triumphant noise as I'm able to pick food up now. I put a large chunk of fish into my mouth and close my eyes in pure bliss.

"Mmmm..." I start to shovel food into my mouth while still trying not to be rude about it.

"Do you like it?" Yukina asks with an amused smile on her face.

I look at her, surprised out of my feeding frenzy. "Yes, it's delicious! Did you make it? It could be because it's been forever since I've eaten anything, but this is the best fish I've ever tasted!" My words seem to make the whole table go silent. I look up from my almost empty plate to see everyone looking at me.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" I start to worry that I may have offended someone and I look over to Yukina for help. She gives me a smile "I'm glad you like it."

I finish my food with a satisfied smile. Yukina reaches over me and takes my plate along with her own and scurries off to I'm guessing the kitchen. I nervously pick at my fingers as I look at everyone. I clear my throat before I speak.

"So you all know my name, but I never got anyone else's names and if I'm going to be here awhile then It'd be nice to know what to call you all."

I look over at a pretty brunette with brown doe eyes as she answers. "Oh! With all the commotion I guess we just forgot to introduce ourselves." She smiles warmly at me.

"My name is Keiko Yukimura." She points the guy with the gelled hair next to her "And this is Yusuke Urameshi." I nod to both of them as Yusuke gives me a lazy wave in return.

"My name is Kazuma Kuwabara!" The orange haired guy points to himself with a big goofy grin that makes me smile.

"My name is Shuichi Minamino, but you may call me Kurama, since everybody else here does." I look over to the redhead as he says this.

"I guess you can call me Master Genkai, brat." The old lady sipping a cup of tea says and I nod not really paying attention to the brat part.

I look over to my right and I see Hiei sitting in a window seat looking outside. I gesture over to him "And he's Hiei, right?"

Kuwabara gives me a surprised look. "How did you know?! Can you read minds too?!" The volume of his voice makes me flinch and I shake my head at him.

"No I can't read minds, but I'm guessing he can." I send Hiei a glare remembering what he did and when he ignores me I turn my attention back to Kuwabara. "I just remember Yukina yelling his name and then Koenma said the same name when he was talking to him." I shrug my shoulders like it was nothing. I glance over to Hiei again to see him looking at me with a glare.

' _I'm still mad at you mister.'_ I think hoping he's listening in on my thoughts.

"Don't mind him, he's always like that." Kurama whispers to me and I nod back feeling better knowing that I wasn't the one to make the guy angry, or at least not recently.

"Ok now the introductions are all over with, we need to know everything that happened." Genkai gets right now to business as she puts her empty cup on the table with a sharp 'clink.'

I look around suddenly very anxious and take a deep breath when I see Yukina walking back into the room with a reassuring smile on her face. _'I have a feeling that Yukina's going to be my saving grace here.'_

I finally gather up enough courage to finally speak. "What do you want to know?" Kurama gets that serious look on his face again before he speaks. "Just start at the beginning." I nod my head then take a deep breath before starting.

"I'm not exactly sure why they took me, but I know it has something to do with this thing called the conduit. The leader, Zanryuu, kept asking me where it was because he thought that I had it. When he finally realized that I had no idea what he was talking about he then started to ask me where my brother was, so I'm thinking that the two are connected in some way." I start to fiddle with my fingers when I finish my explanation skipping over the gory details.

"So did you tell them where your brother was?" Yusuke asks and he receives a slap on the shoulder from Keiko as she tries to shush him.

I give him an offended look. "Hell no! What do I look like to you? Some kind of coward or snitch? I lost an eye lying to them." I unconsciously reach up to touch my right eye, but quickly pull my hand down when I realize what I'm doing.

"Hm is that it?" Genkai replies staring me down.

"Yes and I have a bad feeling that my brother has something to with this conduit thing that's caught the attention of those-those monsters." I clear my throat as it starts to clench up from nerves.

Kurama nods his head next to me. "I agree, but I'm afraid we can't know that for sure until we find your brother and talk to him. If he is involved then he can fill us in on what this conduit is and what it does." He gets a serious look on his face as he stares off thinking. "It'd be wise to find your brother and this conduit before someone else does."

Not willing to give up my brothers' possible location just yet I look around the room at everyone. "How do I know that I can trust you guys not to hurt him? Or to just steal this conduit thing and use it for yourselves?"

Yusuke laughs at this and I look over his questionably. "Don't worry we're the good guys!" He puts his hand into the shape of a gun and points it at me.

"Urameshi's right! We're the good guys here and we won't let anything happen to your brother while we're here!" Kuwabara puts his fist against his chest with a serious look on his face that makes me feel slightly better.

"Idiots, don't you think that if they found her that they would have found her brother by now too?" Hiei snaps at us finally joining the conversation. I give him a sly smile. "Ah that's where you are wrong. If he's where I think he is then they have more of a chance of getting lost then finding him."

He looks over at me with a sharp look. "And you won't?" The smile on my face gets tighter at this. "You're the one who read my mind, so you tell me." His gaze narrows at me, he then quickly looks away from me and I get the feeling that I somehow won this conversation.

' _Emma-1 Hiei-0'_ I tally in my head and the thought that he might have heard that makes me smile.

"So where is he and how do you know that he'll actually be there?" Kurama asks with a look of polite skepticism on his face. I give him a knowing smile.

"Let's just say that my dad can be a little paranoid at times so we have safe houses. There's one in particular that Cole and I used to stay at the most and we agreed that if we were even in trouble that this particular spot would be the one we'd go to."

They look at me with either blank or confused looks. "That was about as vague as you can get." Kuwabara comments as he rubs his head.

"Exactly!" I point at him with a smirk. "And plus if you did find my brother why would he agree to come with a bunch of strangers? If I'm there at least I could convince him to come with us." Genkai makes a noise of agreement.

"The brat has a point." She cuts her eyes at me when I smile at her. Everyone seems to begrudgingly agree with Genkai as they all get up and start to go their separate ways. Not knowing where to go I look at Yukina.

"Umm, may I take a shower? I feel dirty." She giggles at me before nodding.

"Of course! I'll show you where it's at." I follow behind her again as she leads me away.


	9. Chapter 9: TMI

**Chapter 9**

 **TMI**

Yukina shows me where the bathroom is so I can finally take a well-deserved shower. She hands me a towel, a spare change of clothes (which the boys graciously supplied because Yukina is a lot smaller than me and Keiko didn't bring extra clothes), and other bathroom necessities.

I thank her before she leaves me outside of the bathroom. Once you enter to the left there's a sign that says men and to right women. I'm not used to seeing something like this in someone's house…er temple, but I shrug it off and walk into the woman's side

I open the door and walk in just to stop and stare in slack-jawed awe at the room. It was not what I expected at all. The floor is covered in rough tile that's meant to keep you from slipping when wet, the walls are a dark wood, there is a shelf on the left for storage, a sink on the right, and next to that a door.

I open the door and peek in to see that it's a decent sized toilet room. I walk back out too look around some more and see that there's a shower with a curtain to separate you from onlookers. As I get closer to the shower the room starts to get hazy with steam, I look to the very back of the room and stop to stare in amazement.

It was almost like an indoor hot springs! I walk further into the room and look around in amazement. There's what looks to be either a natural or man-made hot springs in the back of the room. It could easily fit five people in it and the little rock waterfall on the right side of it fills the room with a soothing trickling sound of water. Actually I take that last thought back, it _is_ and indoor hot springs.

I can't believe I didn't see this when I first walked in! It's so warm and inviting I can't wait to jump in and relax; lord knows I need some relaxation. "This is so freaking cool!" I say to myself as I walk around taking it all in with child-like joy.

I find an empty shelf and I put the spare clothes and the towel in it. I quickly undress and make my way to the shower. On the way there I happen to spot a full length mirror and I stop to take a look at my new self.

I see that my hair is no longer the chocolate brown that I'm so used to seeing; now it's almost a shiny midnight black. My tail and ears are the same color as my hair, but the insides of my ears are filled with white fur. Luckily my eyes are the same green that I've always loved, with some extra splashes of yellow around the iris, and my actual pupil is slightly slanted; similar to a cats' I guess.

It's hard to tell, but my body seems to be the same size and height too, just slightly tanner and my muscles are more defined. I touch my arm with a frown when I notice that the scar I got from breaking my arm after falling out of a tree is gone, along with all of the other scars that I'd gathered over the years from my misadventures.

' _I never thought that I'd miss my scars, but now that they're gone I feel like I've lost a part of my past. I guess that it makes sense that I wouldn't have them though.'_ My chest clenches when I think about all the physical memories that I've lost. I can't help the little voice in the back of my head though telling me that everything happens for a reason and this is should be looked at as a blessing in disguise.

I let out a long sigh and run my fingers through my long hair. I noticed that my nails are more like claws now and I try not to scratch my scalp as I untangle my fingers from my knotted hair. I flash a smile at my mirror-self and notice that my teeth seem to be sharper and almost fang-like.

I make my ears twitch and stick my tongue out at the mirror, giggling at my refection. "I can get used to the hair, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get used to the ears."

I shake my head and walk the rest of the way to the shower. I turn on the water as hot as it'll go and take a painstakingly long time soaping my hair and then rinsing it out. Enjoying the minty smell of the shampoo and the feeling of the hot water as it loosens up my tense muscles.

I finish cleaning myself, turn the water off, and head to the hot springs with suppressed excitement. I get in and slowly sink down till the water reaches right under my nose. I close my eyes with a sigh of relief as the hot water calms my nerves and washes away my worries. I listen to the trickling of the waterfall as I try to erase the nightmares.

I start to hum a song as my mind starts to drift off into another world. My mind eventually wanders to my family and what they must be going through right now. ' _I miss them.'_ It's hard to believe that I'll never be able to see or talk to them again.

I wonder how they're taking my supposed disappearance. I can just see it now my mom crying and calling everyone she know to look for me, my dad being the strong one is probably taking it upon himself to start a search group, and then there's Cole… I hope that he's ok and has been able to stay away from those who are after him. I'm ok with dying and not being able to see my family anymore as long as he stays alive and well.

I feel tears start to burn my eyes and my throat clenches up as my emotions get the better of me again. I take a shaky breath trying to push the tears back, but it doesn't work very well as a few slide out from the corner of my eyes. I take a deep breath and dunk my head under the water with a splash.

I sit like that listening to the water rushing by my ears in an attempt to drown out the world. I open my eyes and look around at the light that's being reflected into the water. The ripples from the waterfall make the reflection on the lights dance across the surface of the water. It's a very serene view and I find myself getting lost as I watch. I blow bubbles from my mouth, watching as they float to the surface and pop; breaking the perfect surface.

I feel my lungs start to burn with the need for oxygen. I finally can't stay under anymore and I break the surface with a gasp for air. I push the hair that's made its way into my face back where it belongs. I close my eyes and rest my head on the edge of the hot springs; breathing deeply from the lack of oxygen.

Unfortunately I can't stay in here forever so with another heavy sigh, I decide that it's time for me to get out and face the world. I make sure I don't slip as I make my way over to my towel. I dry off and put the borrowed clothes on. The t-shirt is way too big for me, which I'm happy about because I don't have a bra.

Yukina- the saint that she is- was kind enough to supply me with a brand new pair of underwear which I am extremely grateful for because the gym shorts that I was given are large and slightly baggy, even after I rolled the waist band they still go down past my knees. I'd hate to accidentally moon some poor unsuspecting person.

That last thought makes me laugh and as I take a deep breath I catch the scent that's on the clothes. "These must have belonged to Kuwabara and Yusuke cause it smells like them." I keep that thought on the back-burner of my mind so when I see them again I can thank them for letting me use their clothes. "Is it weird that I know what they smell like? I think that's weird…" I shake my head and my wet hair swings around flinging water on the floor.

I gather up the odd ripped clothes that I was wearing and throw them into the trash. After I get done with that I look around for a brush. After opening up just about every cabinet and drawer I find one hidden inside the last drawer I look in.

"I hope no one minds me using this." I say out loud before I use it to get the tangles and knots out of my long hair. It takes a while, but I make a satisfied noise when I'm finally able to run the brush through my hair without it pulling at knots. I throw away the hair that gathered into the brush from all the yanking and put it back where I found it.

"There! Like it was never used." I smile at myself. Sometimes I think that I'm much sneaker than I really am and it amuses me.

Not bothering to dry my hair I walk out of the room feeling very refreshed. I'm trying to retrace my steps towards my room when I hear people talking. My ears perk up and being the curious one that I am I start to slowly walk towards the voices.

My ears twitch as I try to concentrate on what they're saying. It sounds like everyone has gathered into the living room and are talking about a plan to find my brother. I frown when I hear someone saying that I could be misleading them or that it could be a trap. Why would I want to hurt the people that are going to help find my brother?

' _Do I really seem that suspicious to them?'_ Now that I think about it I haven't really shown them that I could be trusted. I was just thrown into their lives like some kind of unwanted stray and now I expect them to just trust me? I scrub my face, irritated at my stupidity. I'll have to show them that I'm a friend not an enemy… somehow…

My frown deepens when I hear someone mention that they should just get the location from me and leave me here. I finally make my way into the living area to find Yusuke, Keiko, Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara all sitting around the room discussing their plans. I wonder where Genkai has gone off too…

"You know there's no way in hell that I'm going to tell you where _my_ brother is at until _we_ are on our way there, right?" I cross my arms over my chest. "I have every right to be there and I don't care if you trust my intentions or not. I'm not an enemy I'm an ally. And plus I thought that we all agreed on me going anyways." They're attention all turns to me.

"Yeah you say that you're an ally now, but what happens when we get your brother? Kuwabara says turning his head to look at me. "You could just turn around and try to attack us when our guards are down." I hear Hiei scoff at his comment.

"Anyone could catch a fool like you with your guard down." He gives Kuwabara a distasteful look and Kuwabara jumps up with his fists clenched. I back up from them, watching with wide eyes wondering if I should be prepared to witness a fight.

"What did you just say shrimp?! I'd like to see you say that to my face!" Kuwabara then walks up to Hiei and stands in front of him. He almost towers over Hiei and I take their size difference silently.

' _That would explain the giant shorts I'm wearing.'_ Kuwabara's long legs would probably be the only ones to make these shorts look normal.

"Hn fool." I can see the smirk playing at the corners of Hiei's lips as Kuwabara turns red in the face and starts ranting about fighting. My laughter seems to break the two apart and they both look at me. I put a hand over my mouth trying to hold the giggles in, but they keep slipping out.

"I'm sorry! It's just funny how you guys bicker with each other, like siblings." I smile as Hiei glares at me and then look back at Kuwabara who has a disturbed look on his face. I start to talk before they start can say anything back.

"I know you don't know me very well, but you don't need to worry about me attacking you guys when your guards are down. Did you see the way Hiei sliced into that ogre like it was freaking butter?!" I make a slicing motion in the air as if I were holding a sword. "I mean come on, how stupid do you think I am?! That thing was chasing me around like a scared little rabbit for miles and he killed it like it was nothing! There's no way in _hell_ I'm crossing you guys whiles he's around. Not unless I want to end up all sliced and diced." I shake my head at the idea. "No thank you, I already died once I'd rather not do it again."

I see a satisfied smirk on Hiei's face when I finished my rant. Kurama makes an amused noise. "Watch out you might make his head explode." Yusuke laughs at this and Hiei scowls and walks over to the windowsill to sit down away from everyone.

A shiver runs down my spine when I feel a spike in someone's energy. I clear my throat and scratch the back of my head awkwardly as I try to think of the best way to ask them about it. "So you aren't like normal people are you?" I look at them all individually; feeling some kind of power coming off all of them except Keiko.

I hear Kurama make a small noise in the back of his throat before he answers. "It would depend on what your definition of normal would be." I look at his polite face not very amused at the way he danced around my question.

"I can feel large amounts of energy coming off of just about everyone here." I look over at Yusuke and look him in the eyes. "Especially you, Yusuke. It feels like someone has trapped a large animal in a small cage and it's trying to break free." I don't take my eyes off of him as I explain this. He narrows his eyes at me and then smiles, taking what I said as a compliment.

"Are you sure you're describing Urameshi's energy and not his personality. He does act like an animal." Kuwabara snickers and I can feel my lips twitch up into a smile. I like Kuwabara he's loud, but goofy and his eyes look kind. He reminds me of a teddy bear and I want to hug him.

"Come here and I'll show you an animal!" Yusuke threatens while flipping Kuwabara off. "Anytime Urameshi!" Kuwabara answers back, not the type to turn down a fight.

I shake my head at the two before glancing over to Keiko catching her attention before I say. "There's way too much testosterone in this one little room." That brings a smile to her face. "Tell me about it. It's nice to have another girl around." She says exasperated and I giggle before going over to her and sitting down on the floor next to the couch.

Kurama makes another amused noise and I can see he's trying to fight a smile. "To answer your question Emma, no I guess we aren't normal people." The way he says normal has me raising an eyebrow in question. "I kind of figured that. So if you're not normal then what are you?" Tilt my head to the side in question.

"Well Yusuke is a spirit detective, Kurama's got demon fox side, Hiei really is a demon, and I'm a super strong psychic!" Kuwabara says with enthusiasm that's way more contagious than he may think. I smile at him and then look at everyone in awe. No wonder I've been feeling like I'm in a pressurized room, they're all like super humans… or demons…

"If I didn't know any better I'd say that I was having a really bad trip or something, but that'd be a little too convenient, huh? Plus this shit is way too real to be brought on by some drug induced state." I close my eyes and run a hand through my drying hair. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly; feeling my muscles slowly start to release from their tense state.

I open my eyes to see Kurama on the couch across from me staring with an interested look in his eyes. I can tell that he's trying to figure me out and I quickly avert my eyes from his unnerving stare.

My eyes travel down to my shirt. "Oh right! Hey thank you guys for letting be barrow a change of clothes. I really appreciate it."

"Hey no problem! We couldn't just let you walk around with nothing to wear." Kuwabara rubs the back of his head while giving me a big smile which I return.

"Emma may I ask you a question?" My ears perk up at Keiko's voice and I give her a nod. "You said that you're from the United States right? What's it like there?" She puts her hands on her knees and leans forward in excitement waiting for me to answer.

I put a hand on my chin as I try to think of the best way to describe it. "Hmm…Well since I haven't been to Japan before I can't really compare the two, but the United States is comprised of 50 states all together, but I've actually only been to six of them, not including the one I grew up in. I grew up in the state called Arizona. It's a beautiful desert covered in multiple types of cactus; where the summer heat can get up to around 130 degrees in some areas and then snow during the winter in others." I smile as I think about it. "There was this one summer where it was so hot that my brother and I fried a couple of eggs on the sidewalk!" I laugh at the memory.

"Wow that sounds crazy! Why would you live there if it got so hot?!" Kuwabara says with a confused look on his face and I laugh before I continue.

"I loved living there and I love the heat; I've never been one for cold snowy days and plus without the heat there wouldn't be as many crazy pool and desert parties." I wink at the last part with a sly smile.

"So wait, you're saying that you liked the heat because you got to have parties?" Yusuke questions while rubbing his head in confusion, but I can see the intrigued look in his eyes. I laugh again knowing that it's hard to understand if you don't live there.

"Well yeah! There are no beaches in Arizona so what better place to get drunk with friends than a pool or in the middle of the desert where there's no authority figures? I remember this one time I took 6 shots while in the pool and didn't feel anything until I got out and almost fell face first into the cement, but somehow landed on my brother which caused him to spill his drink all over the girl he was trying to hook up with!" I bust out laughing at the memory. "Oh man he was so mad at me; he wouldn't speak to me for the rest of the night." My smile softens as I think about Cole.

"It sounds like you had a lot of fun." Keiko adds in and I turn my head to look at her with a smile.

"Yeah, half of the time I only went to those things because my brother invited me… Cole was the more outgoing social one; with all the friends, popularity, and such. I was the quite one who never really had many friends and I was actually bullied throughout most of the time I was in school, which made Cole furious, but it never really bothered me. I always figured that their lives must be pretty bad if they have to resort to bulling for attention. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to become a teacher, so I could help those troubled children." I shrug at the last part.

"Such a wise way of thinking for such a young child." Kurama says with a soft unreadable look in his eyes. I shrug my shoulders like it was nothing.

"I wouldn't say that I was wise… just… I don't know; patient?" I shake my head. "No that's not the word…Understanding? ...I don't know what to call it, but I never understood the point of letting someone's harsh words or actions affect me; yeah they may have stung a little, but that's as far as I'd let it go." I clear my throat to try to clear the tense feeling of the room. "Sooo that's enough about that… Anything else?"

Kuwabara raises his hand like a child and I giggle before pointing at him. "Yes Kuwabara?"

"You said that you wanted to become a teacher. Did you?" I shake my head with a soft smile before I answered. "No. I did go to school, but I never finished. I had some debts to pay off and I couldn't afford to go anymore." I look down at my hands in thought and look back up at his interested eyes.

"But that's OK because I was a manager at this coffee shop that paid more than I would have got from being a teacher. I loved the customers there, they were almost like family, and I got to drink all the free coffee I wanted!" I smile at him, silently telling him with my eyes that I'm ok with my decisions. I glace around at everyone else to see that they're watching and I throw my head back with a loud sigh.

"Man what I wouldn't do for a large hot vanilla latte right now!" I hear Keiko giggle and I can see an amused look in Kurama's eyes from my outburst. A short silence spreads over us before Keiko breaks it with more questions.

"So Emma did you leave anybody special behind?" Keiko asks with a blush creeping up her cheeks. She seems to regret her words when everyone looks over at her and she waves her hands in front of her to try to wipe the thought away. "I'm sorry that was a little invasive. You don't have to answer if you don't want too." I smile reassuringly at her.

"It's alright I don't mind answering. No I was not with someone before I died and came here. My last boyfriend and I broke up a few months prior to my abduction because, in short, he was a jealous cheating dick and he's lucky I broke his nose and didn't run him over with my car." Yusuke and Kuwabara look at me with wide eyes and I smile at them.

"Holy shit you're just as scary as Keiko." Yusuke says and receives a slap from said Keiko. "Jerk." She tells him before crossing her arms over her chest with a huff of air causing me to laugh.

I hear Hiei snort from his window and I turn my head to look at him and see that he has a slight smirk tugging at the side of his lips. _'Did Hiei just smile? I don't think I've seen anything, but a scowl on his face since I got here. Score one for Emma!'_ My ears perk up and I give him a grin and he turns away from me, his smirk quickly disappearing.

"Well remind me to never get on your bad side." Kurama says with a chuckle. I turn my attention onto him and I look over his face in thought.

"Don't worry Kurama you face is too pretty to mess up." I wink at him causing him to give me a nervous chuckle while he rubs the back of his head with one hand and puts the other up in a defensive gesture in front of him.

"Well that's good to hear." I laugh at his reaction. "Well that's enough about me for now." I pull my knees up and wrap my arms around them so I can rest my chin on top. I feel my ears twitch at all the different sounds as I think.

"Do you do that on purpose?" I tilt my head to the side as I look up at Kuwabara with a confused look. "Do what?"

"Twitch your ears like that. It reminds me of my cat." He gives me a big goofy grin when he says the last part. "To tell you the truth I didn't really notice that I was doing it." My ears flatten and I tilt my head to the other side.

I feel a hand reach out and grab one of my ears. "Ahh!" I scream and look up to see Yusuke has a hold of my ear. "What the hell Yusuke?! Are you trying to rip them off or something?! Ouch stop pulling!" I swat at his hand trying to get him to let go.

"Oh man their so soft!" He says as he roughly grabs my other ear. My eyes start to water with his rough treatment and I wiggle around trying to get out of his steel grip.

"That freaking hurts you jerk!" I swing my head back quickly and head-butt him in the face making him let go. I rub my tinder ears with a glare as he rubs his forehead. "What the fuck Emma? I just wanted to feel them!" He glares back at me.

"Well then you could have asked! It felt like you were trying to rip them off!" I keep my hands over them protectively with a pout on my face as I scoot away from Yusuke's reach. I hear Kurama chuckle and I whip my head over to him. "Hey it's not funny! It hurt." I whine.

"I didn't think anyone had a harder head than Yusuke, but I guess yours is pretty hard to make a welt on his head!" Kuwabara laughs at me. "Hey what'd you say?! Why don't you come here and I'll show you a hard head!" Yusuke retorts.

Hiei snorts at our actions. "Idiots." I turn my head to him and stick my tongue out. "Meh!" My actions seem to surprise him as his eyes widen before they narrow again. I ignore him as I reach a hand up to rub my sore ears again.

"May I feel your ears Emma?" Keiko asks as she kneels in front of me. I give her a wary look, but give in with a soft sigh. "Yeah go ahead, just don't pull please." She gives me a smile before softly massaging the tender appendages.

My eyes start to slowly close from the feeling. Before I know it I'm mush under her wonderful fingers. A rumbling in my chest starts up and it soothes me even more as I feel my muscles start to relax.

"Whoa! She purrs just like a cat too!" Kuwabara's voice breaks through my moment of bliss. I feel my face gets hot; embarrassed I pull my head away from Keiko's reach and stand up.

"Umm so that was new…I didn't know that I could purr." I clear my throat embarrassed with all the attention. I run a hand through my hair before I point to the door that I came in through. "I'm just going to go back to my room now and there's a strong possibility that I'll die from embarrassment, so no need to check up on me."

I quickly walk to the doorway, but stop before I get all the way out and turn around to look at them. "Oh and I didn't forget about the whole planning to leave me here while you guys go find my brother thing. I am going and there is no way any of you can stop me." I look at them all individually before turning around and stiffly walking to my room.

I get inside and quickly shut the door behind me. I slid down the door and sit there for a few seconds. "Why do I always make a fool of myself when I'm around new people?" I rub a frustrated hand down my face. Before flipping my head back and hitting it against the door.

"Ugh! They didn't need to know any of that stuff about me. I need a new filter for my mouth so I'll be fool proof." I feel my mouth twitch into a smile at my own joke, but it disappears when I heave a heavy sigh.

"But at least they all seem to be nice people." I get up and fold out my sleeping mat before plopping down on it. I close my eyes feeling the weight of everything catching up to me. It doesn't take me very long to fall asleep.

* * *

 **Woo! This is the longest chapter yet. It seems like the more I write the more my plans for this story seem to change. My mind is overflowing with potential happenings and it makes me excited just to think about it! I just have to get myself to sit down and type it all up. Thank you for reading!  
**

 **Please Review!**


	10. Chapter 10: Early Bird Gets the Cookie

**Chapter 10**

 **Early Bird Gets the Cookie**

 _Pain…Hurting, stinging, burning…Darkness rushes in…Fear tries to swallow me whole… Breath becomes short, eyes begin to sting with tears, body begins to tremble uncontrollably. My body hurts, the darkness hurts…Everything hurts…Darkness filled with manic laughter tries to suffocate me…I can't see, why can't I see? Am I dead? A flash of red breaks through the dark._

I shoot out of bed with a gasp. I run my trembling hands across my sweaty face as I try to push back the nightmare from my mind. _'Shit when will I be able to sleep without having nightmares?'_ I flop back down on my mat and try to control my breathing while staring up at the ceiling. My new eyes make it easier to see in the dark, something that I'm extremely grateful for.

I lay there like that for what feels like hours. I'm not sure what time it is because there's no window in my room, but it feels really early. "Well I don't think I'm going to get anymore sleep, I might as well get up." I sit up and run a hand through my messy hair.

I let a large yawn out and stretch before I get up and readjust the clothes that I slept in. "Maybe I can get them to let me get some clothes of my own." I mumble to myself as I leave the room.

I wander around for a little while not paying attention to where I'm going, until I stop in the kitchen. I look around at the rather large nice looking kitchen. "Hmm I wonder if Genkai will mind if I use her kitchen for a bit. Baking always calms me down." I start rummaging through drawers and cupboards till I find what I need.

I start mixing ingredients while quietly singing to myself. "Deep in the meadow, under the willow. A bed of grass, a soft green pillow. Lay down your head, and close your eyes. And when they open, the sun will rise. Here it's safe, and here it's warm. Here the daisies guard you from every harm. Here your dreams are sweet, and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place where I love you." I close my eyes as I finish singing, thinking about all the times my mom would sing that song to me.

I feel my chest clench at the sweet memories, regretting that I didn't spend more time with my family when I had the chance. Hindsight is twenty twenty right? I open my eyes and start to hum the rest of the song as I finish up the cookie dough. I don't know why, but I have a really bad craving for chocolate chip cookies. Maybe it's because they remind me of home… I shake the thought out of my head and I feel my face scrunch up as I focus back onto the cookies.

I place the finished cookie dough on a cookie tray and put it in the oven to cook while I start on making pancakes. _'I love baking.'_ I think with a smile on my face as I start to dance around the kitchen taking in the smell of fresh cookies in the oven, my nightmare completely forgotten.

I'm dancing around to my own upbeat music as I take the first sheet of cookies out and put the next ones in. I grab a whisk and start to whisk the pancake mix while shaking my hips at the same time, not paying attention to my surroundings.

I tend to become completely oblivious to what's around me when I bake; it's like I'm in my own little world. I twirl around and nearly drop the bowl and whisk when I see someone standing in the corner of the kitchen.

"Holy shit Hiei! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I put a hand on my chest expecting to feel a wildly racing heart, but oddly feel nothing. I feel my eyebrows crease into a frown before I put that little tid-bit of information in the back of my brain seeing as I have more pressing matters- like a spiky haired stalker.

I put the bowl with the batter and whisk down and grab the last of the finished cookies out of the oven. When I'm finished I turn my full attention onto Hiei and look at him with a raised eyebrow. "Umm so what are you doing up so early? And why are you sneaking around on me like that?" I cross my arms over my chest and shift my weight to one hip as I wait for an answer.

"Hn. I could ask you the same question." He crosses his arms like me and gives me a smirk. I frown at his attempt at avoiding my question, but take the bait anyways. I pick the pancake batter back up and start whisking again, adding ingredients as needed.

"I couldn't sleep and after walking around for a bit I found myself in the kitchen. Baking has always been a way for me to escape, so I figured I'd bake a few things." I put the bowl back down and take a cooled cookie off the tray and hand it to him. "Here try one." He gives me a disgusted look before he stares at the cookie like it's going to jump at him.

"What is it?" He sniffs the air while he keeps an eye on the hand with the cookie. "It's a chocolate chip cookie!" I say with a smile. He gives me a look and I gasp. "Don't tell me you've never had a chocolate chip cookie before!" He turns his head away from me and puts his hands in his pockets.

"Holy cow Hiei! How is this possible?! Here you have try it! It's nice and warm so the chocolates still gooey, it'll change your world forever!" He gives me another look and I let out a sigh. "I promise I didn't poison them or anything. Here I'll eat one to show you." I take a bite out of cookie that I was offering him and close my eyes in bliss as the chocolate melts in my mouth. I quickly finish the cookie and grab another one to give to him.

"You're annoyingly cheerful in the morning." He states while he just stares at me not amused. I shrug while giving him a smile so bright that it could possibly blind someone. "Well I have been known to be more of morning person. Plus I find that smiling helps me feel better." I push my hair away from my face and shrug my shoulders. He gives me an odd look as if he doesn't know what to think about me.

My smile never leaves my face as I try to give him the cookie again. He gives me another look before he hesitantly takes the cookie out of my hand and sniffs it. I giggle at him not having seen someone react to a cookie like this. "I'm a really good baker; trust me you'll love it."

I watch with bated breath and he gives me a scowl before taking a small bite. I can see his eyes brighten slightly before he takes another bite. I giggle with a grin knowing that I've just converted Hiei over to the dark side…so to speak. "I told you it was good."

He narrows his eyes at me and gives me his usually one syllable reply, not wanting to admit that I was right. He finishes his cookie and I see him glance at the rest. I move to the side so he can get to them easier. "You can have some more if you want, but don't fill up I'm making pancakes for breakfast." I smile at him while I grab the bowl and turn my back on him pretending like I'm not paying attention.

I see him move out of the corner of my eye while I'm pouring batter onto a skillet. "So why are you stalking me this morning Hiei?" I ask without turning around knowing that he's still there.

"I heard some noise coming from in here. It sounded like an animal was dying, but turns out it was just you." My mouth drops open in shock and I gasp while turning around, spatula still in hand. "My singing doesn't sound that bad! I know it's not that good, but I don't sound like a dying animal!" I can feel my eyebrow twitching in annoyance. What a jerk!

He snorts and gives me a slight smirk. "I'd hardly consider what you were doing as singing." I clench my eyes as if in pain and put a hand over my heart pain. I take a deep breath before I open them again with my hand still on my chest.

"Ouch Hiei that one hurt. And here I was going to make you a special pancake and everything." I give him a smirk before I turn back around to flip the pancakes. My smirk grows as I can almost feel his curiosity growing while his eyes burn the back of my head.

"I'll tell you what. If you take back what you said about my singing then I'll go ahead and make your special pancake anyways, ok?" I try not to laugh when I catch him with a frustrated look on his face out of the side of my eye. Curiosity killed the cat you know…

"Hn… It didn't make my ears bleed." He states and I do a mental face plant as I sweat drop. "Ok that's not the reaction that I hoped for, but I'll take it as your way of saying it wasn't bad. You know it's really hard to figure you out. I'd like to get to know you, if that's ok." I glance back at him with a curious gaze just in time to see his eyes narrow at me.

"Who said I wanted you to know anything about me?" He states coldly and I just shrug nonchalantly. "Well I figured that if I have to stay here I might as well get to know the people I'm going to be around. And that includes you." I spin around and point at him.

"Why don't you just ask someone else?" His eyes narrow and I let out a breath of air as I lean on the counter next to the stove. "I could, but I don't want to learn about you from someone else, that's not right. It's only fair for me to learn about a person from said person and not what someone else thinks of them. At least that's what I'd want someone to do for me anyways." Our conversation goes silent as I turn around to continue to make the pancakes. When I get down to the last few I sprinkle them with chocolate chips with a thoughtful look on my face.

I nearly jump out of my skin when I notice Hiei somehow snuck up next to me and is now watching what I'm doing. "What did you do?" He questions with curiosity edging his voice. I give him a smile before answering. "I added some chocolate chips to them… This is how my brother always liked his pancakes. Don't worry you'll like it and if not there are always the regular pancakes to eat." I give his hesitant gaze a reassuring smile.

I finish off the pancakes making sure to put Hiei's in a separate plate. As soon as I get done I hear footsteps headed our way and I look over to the entrance to see Yukina standing there and I see Hiei stiffen out of the corner of my eye. His reaction peaks my curiosity and I store that question away for a later time.

I give Yukina a small wave as she walks into the kitchen. "Good morning Yukina! I hope you don't mind, but I used the kitchen." I give her a sheepish smile when I realize what a mess I've made. There are dirty bowls and utensils all over the counter and filling up the sink. She gives me one of her warm smiles in return.

"Good morning Emma and good morning Hiei. Oh it's no worry at all. Would you like any help?" She offers with a sweet smile. I shake my head not wanting her to have to clean up my mess.

"No thank you. You should go sit down and relax; breakfast will be ready in a few minutes." Her smiles are just so contagious and I can feel myself grinning back at her. Man I'm really starting to get quite fond of Yukina and her calming friendly presence.

"Ok if you say so." She gives me a short bow before leaving the kitchen. I spin around to see that Hiei is still standing there, but with a thoughtful look on his face. "She's just so sweet!" I say and I watch as the look disappears like it was never actually there and is replaced with his cool emotionless mask. _'Hmmm interesting…_ '

"Why didn't you let her help you?" He asks and I give him an offended look. "Because this is my mess and I'm not going to let Yukina clean it up for me. I'd never do that to someone as sweet as her." I give him a sly look. "But you on the other hand…" Before I can finish he's already gone. I blink a couple times surprised that he was able to move that fast. I shake my head with a small smile.

"Well that's one way to make him leave." I chuckle to myself as I continue to make breakfast. I make vegetable omelets to go with the pancakes. I know an odd combo, but it sounded good. I look through a few cabinets and find a bottle of what I'm guessing is syrup. With a smile I start to set the food on the table and I look up when Genkai walks into the room.

"Good morning master Genkai. I made some breakfast if you're hungry." I gesture to the food and she sits down at the head of the table with a grumpy look on her face.

"Hmm it seems like you've been very busy this morning." She grumbles and for some reason it makes me smile. I guess I'm just used to working with cranky old people so I don't take anything they say to heart anymore.

"Yes ma'am, let me go get you some tea." I leave the dining room and enter the kitchen again. I start looking for items to make tea, but I'm at a loss when I find a tea pot but no tea. "I wonder if Yukina knows where the tea is." I mumble to myself and leave the kitchen in a hurry to go find her.

On my way out I almost run right into sleepy looking Kurama. "Sorry!" I say when I catch my footing. "It's alright I wasn't looking where I was going." He replies while he rubs the back of his head in embarrassment.

"You don't look like you're quite awake, not much of a morning person huh?" I question and he gives me a polite smile. "I'm afraid not, but it looks like you are." I smile at him. "Yeah I've always been a morning person." He looks at my cheery face and shakes his head.

"Where are you going in such a hurry anyways?" He asks. I was too busy looking at his cute bedhead that I didn't register that he asked me something until I looked into his patiently waiting eyes. "Oh! I wanted to make master Genkai some tea, but I don't know where the tea is at so I was going to find Yukina so she could help me find it." I say in a hurry not wanting to leave Genkai waiting for too long.

"Oh, well I could help you if you'd like. I know the kitchen pretty well." He says and I give him a big smile. "Would you do that for me? That'd be great thanks!" I turn around on my heels and lead him back to the kitchen.

"Ok so here's the tea pot, but for the life of me I can't find the darn tea." I scratch the back of my head as I look around the messy kitchen again. I see Kurama looking at the mess I made and my cheeks get hot. I let out a nervous chuckle while I scratch the side of my face with one finger.

"Umm don't pay attention to the kitchen; I'll clean it up after breakfast. I tend to make a mess when I bake." I give him a sheepish look and he nods with amused eyes.

"It looks like you were very busy this morning." He gives me a smile and I nod with enthusiasm. "Yeah I couldn't sleep so I figured I'd bake something cause it always makes me feel better. So I make pancakes, vegetable omelets, and some chocolate chip cookies for later." I say with pride.

"Hmm I didn't peg you as one you liked to cook." He says as he starts to look for the tea. "Well there are a lot of things you don't know about me and I know even less about you." I cross my arms over my chest while I watch him search through the kitchen.

"This is true." He finds the container with the loose leaf tea. "Ah here it is." I give him another smile. "Yes! You are awesome, thank you Kurama. Now I just have to figure out how to make it…" I put a hand on my chin in thought as I stare at the tea kettle. I look over at Kurama as he stares at me in amusement.

"So do I just put the tea in the kettle and boil the water? Or is there like some kind of strainer for it so the tea leaves don't get into the cup? How does master Genkai like her tea anyways?" He chuckles at me with a shake of his head. He grabs the tea kettle and starts to pour water in it and puts in on the stove as he makes the tea.

I watch with curious eyes never having made tea this way before. I've always used tea bags so this is different. "Would you mind grabbing the tea cups for me and I'll bring the tea?" He asks and I eagerly nod, glad that I had him to help.

"Thanks again for your help Kurama. I'm afraid that I might have ruined it if I tried to do it on my own." I find the tea cups and follow behind him as he brings the hot tea to the dining room. "You're welcome." He says.

When we enter the dining room I see that everyone else is starting to slowly make their way to the table. "Mmmm something smells good." Yusuke says as he sits down and loads his plate up. I put the tea cups down for everyone and Kurama pours the tea.

Eventually everyone is in the room and has already started to eat. I see Hiei sitting on his favorite window seal and I quickly walk back to the kitchen and grab his plate of pancakes and bring it over to him. He gives me a bored annoyed look and I ignore it. "These are for you; you don't have to eat them if you don't want to." With that said I put the plate down on the table next to him and go to take my seat.

I feel Kurama's eyes on me as I put food on my plate. I glance over at him and he just gives me a smile. I start to eat in silence enjoying the Americanized breakfast. "This is very good Emma, thank you." Yukina says. "You're welcome! I also made cookies if anyone wants any." I see Yusuke and Kuwabara grin.

"That's what I smelled! Awesome we'll have to keep you around for a while Emma!" Yusuke says as he pats his full belly with a satisfied look. I giggle at him. "You might get fat if you keep eating the way you do." Keiko laughs at my comment. "I keep saying the same thing, but he just seems to burn it all off, lucky him." I nod in agreement then continue to eat my food.

I pick up all the dirty plates when everyone is finished and I see Yukina following behind me. I place everything in the sink and start filling it up with soapy water. "You don't need to help me Yukina. It's my mess so I can clean it up." I try to be stern, but her sweet face makes it hard.

"I don't mind helping." She says and I stare at her gentle eyes till I let out a sigh as I give in. "Ok." We start to clean all of the dishes and when we're almost done a thought pops into my head.

"Hey Yukina I can to ask you something?" I hesitate not really knowing how to explain what I'm about to say. She looks at me giving me her full attention before nodding her head. "Of course, what is it?"

"So do you know much about demons?" I question and she nods with a smile. "Not as much as Kurama or Hiei, but yes." My scrunches up in thought as I debate on how to fraise my question. "Ok I don't really know how to put this, so I'll just come out and say it. Is it natural for me to not feel my own heart beating or should I be worried?" I ask in concern as I dry the last dish off more than once.

She gives me a reassuring smile which puts me at ease. "You don't need to worry about it, but I think Kurama would be able to explain it better than I can, he's knows a lot more than me and can answer your questions easier." I nod at her feeling a weight start to lift off of my shoulders. "Ok thank you Yukina. I'll go look for him." I smile at her as she shoos me away and I start the search for Kurama.


	11. Chapter 11: Heart Trouble

**Chapter 11**

 **Heart Trouble**

Yukina and I finished up the dishes and I'm now walking around the temple trying to find where Kurama is hiding at. After trying multiple locations I'm about to give up when I walk into a room and see him sitting on a couch reading a book. He hears me come in and looks up from his book. I walk halfway into the room and give him a nervous smile.

"So this is where you've been hiding huh?" I look around to see that it's a small library/reading room I make a mental note to see if any books are in English before I turn my attention back to the waiting Kurama. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you're reading, if you want I can come back." I point at the door behind me then lace my fingers behind my back and rock on my heels a few times. He shuts his book with a polite smile. "It's quite alright. Did you need something?"

I chew on my bottom lip in thought, but stop when I see his eyes glance at my nervous habit before meeting my eyes again. "Umm, Yeah… So you're pretty smart right?" It was more of a statement than a question, but I felt like I should ask anyways.

He chuckles at me while he puts his book aside. "I suppose so." I see the questioning look in his eyes as he watches me intently. I shift from one foot to the other—uneasy under his intense gaze. "Ok so I have a question and I asked Yukina earlier and she said that I should talk to you because you can explain things easier to me than she can." I make my over to the couch and sit facing him.

His face goes blank while he eyes me trying to figure out what my question is. "What is it?" His eyes get that calculating look in them that I've noticed he gets when his mind is hard at work.

I reach out for his hand, but hesitate. "Just bear with me for a moment, ok?" He quirks an eyebrow at me, but doesn't question me as I grab his hand. I put his hand on my chest where my heart is and his eyebrows shoot up, clearly not expecting this. I clear my throat to get the bad thoughts out of my mind.

"I was hoping that you'd be able to tell me why I can't feel my own heart beating. Can you feel anything or do I really have no heart beat?" I bite my lip again as I hold his hand against my chest. He gives me a knowing smile and then chuckles at me which makes me frown. I really don't think this is something to laugh at…

"You have no heart beat because you're a demon. Demons don't have beating hearts like humans do. We have what's called a core and it basically works the same way a human heart would, but it just doesn't beat. It circulates our power throughout our body and regulates our organs similar to a human heart."

My eyebrows furrow as I try to take this information in. "So what you're saying is that I'm not some kind of weird zombie, but I'm a normal demon?" I look up into his eyes with the same serious look and see a twinkle of amusement shining in those unnerving green eyes. I'm so glad he gets such great amusement from me…Not.

"Yes you are perfectly normal." I let out a sigh of relief and let his hand drop before leaning back into the couch. "Well that's good I guess…Weird, but good." I give him a smile which he returns.

"Is that all you wanted to know?" He asks with that same twinkle of amusement in his eyes. "Yes…for now. Thank you." I look up at the ceiling. "I just figured that with my luck I'd turn into some brain hungry zombie. And then somebody would have to kill me before I started to munch on people's heads and then I'd be dead…but for real this time." My face stays serious as I admit my idiotic thoughts.

I look back at him to see him trying to cover the smile on his face with his hand and I feel my face heat up from embarrassment. "Hey it's not funny! You wouldn't be laughing if I really did turn into a zombie!" I snort unattractively before I continue. "I swear somebody upstairs has a grudge against me or something because I've had the worst luck ever the past few months! And I swear I didn't break any mirrors or walk under any ladders lately to earn such bad luck." I sit up quickly and look at him as a wild thought hits me.

"Oh! Do you think someone could have put a curse on me?!" My eyes go wide when I think about it. "Oh my gosh there was this shady looking drunk old man that I kicked out of the coffee shop for trying to steal a table filled with bags of coffee! He was mumbling very odd things when he left…Do you think he cursed me?!" I put my hands on the sides of my face while I try to recall what happened that day. I don't really believe in things like that, but who am I to say it couldn't have happened. I mean come one! I died and now I'm a freaking demon! How much of a stretch would it be to believe that someone could put a curse on you?

Kurama's laughter breaks my over dramatic panic and my head whips back over to him. "What?!" He clears his throat to get rid of the laughter before answering. "I don't think you were cursed, but it does sound like you've dealt with some very interesting people and that you have a very wild imagination."

I put a hand on my chin and narrow my eyes in thought. "Yeah I guess that'd be a little too crazy right? I guess everything just happens for a reason even if I don't like it." I let a puff of air out and run my hand through my hair before I grin at him. "You have no idea the crazy caffeine deprived people that I've had to deal with. It's a really good thing that I'm such a patient person otherwise I'd have stabbed someone in the eye with a straw or something. And my imagination isn't wild just…colorful." I laugh at myself. My smile softens and I look back at Kurama with a thoughtful look.

"Thanks so much Kurama. I know that we really don't know each other that well, but I really appreciate that you listened to my craziness. You're a great guy, you know that?" I give him a warm smile and he almost seems taken aback by my words. He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.

"You're welcome, but I don't think I helped very much." I shake my head at him. "Sometimes all a girl needs is for someone to listen to her and you've been a very good listener, so thank you." He gives me a soft smile. "You're welcome." I stretch my arms over my head before leaning back into the couch again.

I look around the room for a few minutes while we sit in a comfortable silence. I see Kurama out of the corner of my eye pick up his book and start reading again. I turn my attention back on him and I scoot closer to him—trying to be stealth, but it's not working very well. He seems to notice that I moved closer and raises an eyebrow at me with his polite face on.

I stretch my neck out to see the book in his hands and to my dismay it's in Japanese so I can't read what it is. I let out a puff of air before I scoot away again. Kurama is watching me with an amused look the entire time. "Did you need something?" He finally asks with a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

I try to act nonchalant, but it just comes off as awkward and he just waits for me to answer patiently. "Umm no." I shake my head no and he gives me one last look before continuing his reading. I look around the room again and start to fidget with a loose string on my shirt. After a few minutes I finally look over at Kurama again to see that he's doing a really good job at ignoring my child-like wiggling. "What are you reading?" I look over at the book again and crinkle my nose when I still can't read it.

"It's just a historical book that I just happened to find on one of the shelves. It's quite interesting." He puts the book down again and gives me his attention. I almost feel bad interrupting his reading like this… _almost_ being the key word. There's just nothing to do around here so I might as well bug someone for some type of entertainment.

"You know I love to read so it really sucks that I can't read any of these books because they're all in Japanese. Why can't there be some books in English lying around somewhere?" I give him a questioning look and he gives me an amused look in return.

"I could teach you if you'd like." I feel my nose crinkle again at the thought of learning how to read in Japanese, it's just looks way too complicated for my wandering mind. He chuckles at me as if reading my thoughts. "It's not as hard as it looks." I look at him like he's crazy.

I scoff before gesturing at him with a wave of my hand. "Says the genius who can speak more than one language… Japanese writing looks like freaking abstract art to me. It's pretty to look at, but I have no freaking clue on what it's supposed to be." That causes him to bite his thumb to try to keep the serious look on his face and to stop his laughter that I can see trying to escape; which causes a smile to spread on my face. _'HA! At least someone understands my humor.'_

"But seriously I don't want you wasting your time on teaching me how to read Japanese writing. I don't want to make a bigger fool out of myself when I don't get it. Thank you though, I appreciate the offer." He eyes me for a second before he gets this sly little twinkle in his eyes. Why do I get the feeling he's planning something?

"So you're saying that I'm not a good enough teacher, am I right?" He gives me an almost hurt look which makes something in my chest ache. A little voice in the back of my mind is saying 'Stop it's a trap!', but his big green wounded puppy dog eyes make me feel guilty for saying no, so that small voice just becomes smothered under my damn overbearing conscious.

"No that's not what I'm saying at all! It's just that it'll take you way too long to teach me how to read it and I don't want you to waste your time." I wave my hands in front of me trying to clear up the miscommunication. In the meantime my guilty conscious is screaming at me for turning down this poor man's offer and hurting his feelings. What's wrong with you?! All he wants to do is help and you go and reject it?! Look at his sad face! Apologize before it's too late! APOLOGIZE! …Yeah my conscious is pretty demanding sometimes.

"Ah I see. So you are saying that I'm slow." He frowns, but I can still see the mischievous twinkle in his eyes. I make a frustrated noise as I rub a hand down my face. "No! You'd probably be a great teacher! I'm saying that I'd probably be a really bad student!" I run a frustrated hand through my hair getting even more frustrated when my fingers snag on a knot and painfully pulls my hair.

"Well the only way to find out is if you let me teach you, otherwise I might feel like you have no confidence in me at all." He tries to hide his smirk when he says that last bit and I mentally curse myself as I feel like I've fallen into a trap and that little annoying voice speaks up again as it says 'I told you so!'.

I let out a defeated sigh and slouch down into myself. "Fine! You can teach me, but I will make no promises about my learning skills." I sit up straight and point at him to emphasize my point. His smirk grows into a smile and I eye him suspiciously. "Ok we'll start in a few days."

My eyes widen and then narrow when my slow mind finally puts all the pieces together and figures out that I've just been played. He's so smooth that I didn't even know it until it was over. I open my mouth and close it a few times like a fish out of water until I find the right words and he's just sitting there watching me the whole time with an amused look to his face. "You totally played me didn't you? And I fell face first into you're trap."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I can't help the smile that's growing on my face when I snort at the innocent look he's trying to play off on me. "You are one sly fox, you know that? I'll remember that. This'll be the last time you'll play me like this." His eyes sparkle with amused mischief. "Is that so?"

"Yes, I'm on to you mister." I point two fingers to my eyes and then point the same two at Kurama for the universal sign of 'I'm watching you.' He laughs at me and I can't help but to laugh back. When the laughter stops I catch myself thinking that I really enjoy listening to him laugh. I shake the thought out of my head. _'Where did that come from?'_ I brush off the blush that's threatening to cover my face.

"So…I hope you don't give me too much homework because I am a really bad procrastinator and—I probably shouldn't be admitting this—I also have a bad case of stage freight so please don't make me speak in front of a crowd. Oh! And should I call you Mr. Kurama or Mr. Minamino or something like sensei maybe?" I tilt head to the side while I ask my questions. He gives me a thoughtful look before answering.

"I don't have any plans for you to speak in front of a crowd, Kurama will be just fine, and as for the homework we'll just have to wait and see." I groan at the last part not wanting to have homework to work on. I can see that mischievous glint in his eyes again and I can't help feeling like I've just signed my soul away. I wonder if I should be worried…Nah it can't be that bad, right?

"It's like I'm back in school again, but at least my teacher will be easy on the eyes." I give him a wink and giggle when I see a dusting of pink over his cheeks. I take advantage of his surprise and grab the book out of his lap. I stare at it while scrunching up my nose again as I flip through a few pages. "So you really think that I'll be able to read this?" I ask while turning the book sideways and upside down hoping that it'll somehow turn the symbols into English text.

I feel his eyes on me and I look up at him. "Yes I believe you'll eventually be able to read it. We'll just need to start out easy and it'll take some practice." I give his determined look a nod before handing his book back.

"Ok teach I leave my fate in your hands!" I stick my tongue at him childishly before I flop my back into the couch dramatically and cover my eyes with an arm. I feel his eyes on me again and I peek out from under my arm. I catch a glimpse of his amused bright green eyes and I sit up straight, done with my dramatic moment. I give him a cheesy smile before I stand up. "I'm going to go see what everyone else is doing." I give him a small wave before leaving. I leave the room, but before the door shuts I poke my head back into the doorway to see that Kurama's still looking this way. "Thanks again." He gives me a smile and a nod. "Anytime."

I find myself walking outside where I can hear people fighting. I look around cautiously till I spot the source of the noise. My eyebrows shoot up in shock when I see Yusuke and Hiei fighting. I don't know what to think, are they sparing or fighting? It's hard to tell. How is it that they're able to move so fast? I can't seem to take my eyes off of them as they jump, twist, kick, and punch. It's almost like a deadly dance—Hiei swinging his sword with such grace and skill—and Yusuke just seems to dance around both him and the sword. There is a few times where they moved so fast that my eyes weren't able to keep up or I blinked and they were in a different part of the field. It's pretty amazing.

"Wooow." I whisper amazed, watching as they land hits that could have easily knocked someone senseless, but they just take it with a grain of salt and keep going. I feel someone standing next to me and I look over to see Genkai watching them too. "These two dimwits never quit." She grumbles before lighting up a cigarette and taking a drag.

"It's amazing how fast they can move. I wish I was that fast." I feel envy start to swell up in my chest, but I quickly squash it. They have obviously been training for a very long time if they can fight like this, I have no right to be jealous. "Hmm…How much of their movements are you able to see?" Genkai asks curiously and I give her a confused look before looking back at the fighters. I watch them for a second before speaking. "Pretty much all of it, I guess. There is a few times where they move so fast it's like they vanished and then appeared in another spot, but otherwise I can see them just fine. Why?" I look down at Genkai to see her giving me a strange look. Why am I getting the feeling I was better off staying inside?

"Interesting…Have you had any experience fighting?" She asks while she flicks the butt of her cigarette so the embers fall to the ground. Curious to see where this conversation is going I give her the truth. "I took some kick boxing classes when I was younger just for fun, but that's about it. It's nothing compared to them though." I indicate the two fighters with a wave of my hand and I hear Genkai grunt.

"That may be true, but I can see potential in you girl." She admits and I give her a surprised look. I really don't know what to say to that. She thinks I have potential? For what though? To fight like these guys? I look back at the boys and snort. There's no way in hell I can even come close to their skill level. I'm not much a fighter to begin with—too big of a bleeding heart to hurt someone without feeling bad—but I guess that doesn't mean I can't try though.

"I don't know ma'am, I'm not much of a fighter. I don't think that I have much potential for any of that." I watch the guys again and flinch when Yusuke kicks Hiei across the field, but it doesn't take Hiei very long to recover and disappear showing up just long enough to cut Yusuke across the chest with his sword. "Not with that attitude you don't. Would you be willing to learn if someone taught you?" She states in her rough way and I look back at her in shock. I take a minute to think about it. My mind flashes back to when I was kidnapped. If I knew how to fight back then, then maybe none of this would have happened. I get a determined look on my face when I finally make up my mind.

"Yes ma'am. I would be more than willing to learn if I had someone to teach me. I don't want to be defenseless anymore…I need to know how to protect myself from people like Zanryuu." My face gets hard and I feel my stomach clench when I think about that monster. I look back at her with determined eyes and she gives me a nod before she stomps her cigarette out. "Good...Hey dimwit, get over here!" She yells causing me to jump. They guys stop fighting and Yusuke starts to walk over, grumbling under his breath.

I have to stifle a giggle at the fact that he responded to dimwit. Genkai gives me a look and I freeze not liking the way she's sizing me up. "What is it grandma?" Yusuke shouts as he stands in front of us. "Meet you're new training partner. I want you to test her and see how she fights." I look between her and Yusuke with wide eyes. "W-what?" I stammer out and she glares at me. "If I'm going to train you brat, then I need to know if and how you fight. Now go!" I open and close my mouth not knowing how to reply. _'Do I really have to fight Yusuke!?'_ My mind is unable to process it yet.

"Hey grandma, are you sure about this? I don't want to hurt her or anything." Yusuke says as he eyes me while he rubs the back of his head. "Yeah what he said." I point to Yusuke while giving Genkai a wide eyed stare. She gives both of us a glare and I can see her patience running thin. "Do you want to learn how to defend yourself or not girl?" She demands with an irritated look on her face. I swallow the lump in my throat before speaking. "Y-Yes ma'am." I nod at her with a look I'm almost positive is equal to a scared rabbit. "Ok then! Now I need to see how much you know and the best way to do that is if you fight someone. Yusuke won't kill you, he's not that stupid." She grunts out before shooting Yusuke a look.

My stomach leaps up into my throat and I push it back down before nodding and hesitantly following Yusuke onto the field. I get into a fighting stance and take a shaky breath. _'What the hell did I just get myself into? Yusuke is going to beat the shit out of me. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all.'_ I feel my nerves starting to make my hands shake and I clench them into fists before anyone notices. I'm scared, but that doesn't mean everyone has to know I am. "Don't expect me to hold back because you're a girl." Yusuke states while he rolls his head and shoulders, getting ready to fight. I nod in understanding before I take another deep shaky breath, trying to clear my mind.

I can see Hiei leaning on a tree to the side of Yusuke with a smirk on his face. Why do I feel like I'm about to be today's entertainment for anyone that might be watching? Before I can think anymore Yusuke gets a serious look on his face and clenches his hands into fists. "Ok let's do this!" He shouts before he lunges at me.

He takes a swing at me before my minds able to process that we've started and I flinch, making a weak attempt to put my arms up for protection. His fist connects with my arms with such force that it makes me slide backwards and almost trip over my own feet in the process. I catch myself just in time to see him coming at me again with another swing and I flinch again forgetting to block and take the full hit on the jaw. I face snaps to the side and I feel my bottom lip bust open as my teeth grind painfully together. I see stars as I fall backwards onto my butt holding my jaw tenderly. "Stop flinching and fight me!" He shouts angrily at me for not defending myself. I stare at him wide eyed for a second before standing up on shaky legs trying to rub the pain away. I've never been hit in the face like that before and it hurts like hell.

"Hn. She's not worth your time detective, she's just another burden." Hiei states from his spot and I look over at him with a hurt expression. "I'm not a burden!" I say while still rubbing my slowly swelling jaw. He rolls his eyes at me and then glares. "Then you're a useless weakling." He says and I stand there in shock. I can feel my anger start to rise. I don't like to be called a burden or useless. Who does he think he is to judge me like that? I shoot him a dirty look, which I receive a glare in return.

"What gives you the right to judge me like that?! I'm not useless!" I take a few stomping steps in his direction and he stands up straight with a mocking look on his face. "You've done nothing to prove otherwise." He states with a satisfied look on his face. I'm not one for violence, but that look he's giving me is making my blood boil. "If I hadn't killed that demon chasing you then you'd probably have ended up as his lunch and that might not have been a bad thing." The smug way he stated that just makes my stomach twist in guilt and anger because I know he's right and he knows that I know that he's right—which makes it even worse. This guy knows how to get under my skin in the worst kind of way. Not having anything else to say to him I flip him off before I turn my attention back to a waiting Yusuke. He looks at me amused when I give him an angry look. "Ok let's go." I say, but this time I'm ready to punch something.

Yusuke charges at me again with a right hook, which I feel slide across my face as I'm barely able to dodge it. He spins and throws a kick at me and I jump back just in time to miss it. I'm not actually able to do anything but dodge at this point. I'm focusing on trying to find an opening in his attacks and I wasn't paying close enough attention to his hands, so when his fist makes contact with my stomach I fly backwards just to be stopped by a tree. My back makes contact with the very sturdy tree and I feel all of the air rush out of my lungs. I feel the back of my shirt rip as I painfully slide down the rough bark of the tree, no doubt taking some of the bark with me in back cut up back. I crumple to the ground in a gasping sweaty heap. I sit there for a second trying to catch my breath with a dazed look on my face.

I've never been punched into a tree before and I'll have to admit that I'd rather not have learned how painful it is. Today's full of first times, now isn't it? I'm finally able to catch my breath and I take a few lungfuls of precious air. I'm grateful that Yusuke is waiting for me to recover from his rib crushing blow and not continuing his onslaught of pain. I slowly stand up with the support of the tree. "Ouch." I breathe out before I mentally steel my resolve to go back to the source of my pain. I make my way over to him, but this time I don't give him the chance to rush me.

* * *

 **Yay an update! I'm not very good at writing fight scenes, but practice makes perfect right?**

 **Thanks for reading!  
**


	12. Chapter 12: No Pain No Gain

**Chapter 12**

 **No Pain No Gain**

I've never been punched into a tree before and I'll have to admit that I'd rather not have learned how painful it is. When I'm finally able to catch my breath I take a few lungful's of precious air. I'm grateful that Yusuke is waiting for me to recover from his rib crushing blow and not continuing his onslaught of pain. I slowly stand up with the support of the tree. "Ouch." I breathe out as I hold my ribs.

I take a glance over at Hiei to see his disinterested face and then at Genkai to see an almost disapproving scowl. _'Well I guess my show must not be very entertaining._ ' I let out long breath of air—trying really hard not to give Hiei a dirty look—I bring my attention back to the awaiting Yusuke. I roll my aching shoulders, before I steel my resolve to go back to the source of my pain. _'I'll show them that I can hold my own.'_ I make my way over to him, but this time I don't give him the chance to rush me.

He waits for me to get close and takes a left swing at my head, but I'm able to dodge it, bringing my knee up to hit him in the stomach. I'm in awe when it actually connects. He hunches over and goes stumbling backwards. I stare, stunned for a second. Yusuke lifts his head up and gives me a grin. "That's what I'm talking about!" He shouts and the only thing that's going through my head now is _'Oh shit…'_

He comes at me again with a kick and I block with my arms and swear that I heard something crack with the force of his kick, but I don't have time to focus on it. My adrenaline is pumping fast through my veins and the pains caused from his hits have become almost numb. My mind is focused on survival, not injuries.

His punches and kicks start to come in faster and faster. After a few hits to the face, stomach, and other regions of my body, my mind goes almost blank and my instincts take over. I knee him in the stomach again and when he bends to lessen the impact I sucker punch him in the face. I don't know where these instincts have come from, but they're allowing me to go blow-for-blow with Yusuke.

But it doesn't seem to matter how many hits that I throw at him, he just keeps going on like it's nothing—I came to the conclusion that he might be the terminator or something! This guy's body is made of steel and my hands are screaming at me to stop hitting the unbreakable object!

I'm not going to say that I'm proud of myself, but I decided that the only way to get out of this ahead—or with fewer injuries than needed—was to start playing dirty.

I stomp on his foot with my heel and when he jumps back, I upper cut him in the stomach. I don't give him any time to recover when I give him a left and then a right hook to the face. My mind feels like it's in a daze now as I kick him the stomach while he protects his face. He falls backwards and for a moment I think that maybe I've won…but I should have known better. He is the terminator after all…

He recovers faster than I thought he would and lands one nasty punch to my face. Why is he always aiming at my face?! My head jerks painfully to the side and I bite the inside of my cheek. I feel blood start to pool in my mouth when I fall backwards and my head slams against the ground.

I see stars for the second time this day, but I shake them off when I see a foot coming at me. I roll out of the way and jump up, turning back to a very blurry Yusuke. I grimace when I spit the blood out of my mouth and wipe my lips off with the back of my hand.

My tail swishes behind me and my ears lay flat on my head.

Yusuke grins at me and I can see it in his eyes that he's enjoying this—not just beating me up—but the actual thrill of the fight. And I would be lying if I said that there wasn't a small part inside of me that wasn't enjoying this just as much. It's very small and is hidden under my need to survive, but it's there.

I give him a small smile before we both rush each other…of course Yusuke's punch connected and mine sadly did not, but you have to give me credit because I took it like a champ. His punch hit me in the stomach and knocking the air out me _again_. I let out a gasp and clutch my painful abdomen as I stagger on my feet and stumble back and forth when my legs try to give out.

He comes rushing forward for the finishing blow, but before he can get close Genkai interrupts. "That's enough!" She shouts at us. It's almost comical to watch as the momentum from Yusuke's swing makes him trip when he goes to stop it causing him to fall flat on his face. I would have laughed if my face and body didn't feel like it was going to split in half.

I let out a sigh of relief that it's finally over and I feel my legs give out. I welcome the wonderfully soft grass as it makes contact with my beaten body. I don't even try to break my fall because what more can the ground do to my face that Yusuke hasn't already done?

I lay there enjoying the cool wet grass on my—now swollen and bloody—face and body. "I'll give you credit girl. You lasted a lot longer than I thought you would." Genkai's rough voice breaks through my hazy mind and I just lift my hand up to give her a thumbs-up.

I hear Hiei and her snort almost at the same time. "But that doesn't mean you were any good. You left yourself wide open half of the time and the only thing I learned was that you can take quite a few blows to the head before being knocked down. If you were in a real fight you'd probably be dead." Her words are like salt on my wounds and my thumbs-up soon turns into a thumbs-down before I let my arm fall to the floor with a dull 'thump'.

I hear Yusuke laugh at my display before he reaches down and pulls me up by one of my arms. "That was fun! We'll have to do it again when you've had more practice." He smiles at me and I smile back—or try to, but my swollen face doesn't really allow much smiling. "I'll tell you what though. You sure have one hard head… It was like hitting a brick!" He laughs when I glare at him. My face hurts too much to talk so I just flip him off; which causes him slap me on the back and laugh even more while I grunt and stumble forward in pain.

"Go inside girl. You'll need to heal up before we start your real training." Genkai says and I push the fear that's trying to creep into my chest from her words. What did I get myself into? I have a feeling I'm going to have to get used to the feeling of pain if this is what she considers a 'test'.

I groan and limp into the temple. My adrenaline is now starting to wear off and I can feel every single ache and pain in my body. But for some reason this pain is nothing compared to the pain that I felt when I was kidnapped. If I could get through _that_ then I can get through  anything.

I'm deep in thought when I bump into somebody. I let out a hiss of pain as my arm comes into contact with the solid form. _'Yup I definitely messed my arm up.'_ I think while cradling it against my chest. I look up into the surprised eyes of Kurama. I must look like a hot mess and I feel self-conscious as his calculating eyes roam over my beaten face. "Emma, what happened?" His concerned words make me snort in amusement.

"Nothing much. Just had a little training session with Yusuke is all." I mumble out. "Well more like a beating session, since I am no fighter. But for some strange reason master Genkai says I have potential." I run a hand through my matted hair, trying to get some of the grass out.

"Ah, I see. Well we should get some of these wounds cleaned before they get infected." He states seriously and I cringe at the thought of making my body sting more than it already does. I've always hated rubbing alcohol, it stinks and it burns. After some mental debating, I let out a defeated sigh and then nod my head yes.

He leads the way to the bathroom and puts me in a chair; I sit backwards in it and rest my head on the back. I sit there with my eyes closed while he goes and gets whatever it is that he needs. I open them when I hear him come back and see that he has his arms full of all different types of items. _'Is that a plant? Why does he have a plant?'_

He inspects my face and decides to start there. He wets the towel and softly wipes the blood away. "You know I can do this by myself, right?" I say as I watch him with my eyes, trying really hard not to move my head as he dabs the wet cloth under my eye.

"Probably, but it's better to have help." He states, effectively making me feel like an ass. Why do I feel bad when I reject his help? This makes absolutely no sense to me…

I shift uncomfortably and wince at something between my shoulder blades. I reach my arm around my back to scratch it, but he grabs my arm before I can do anything. I look at him with raised eyebrows. "Don't scratch. You have splinters in your back and they need to be taken out. If you scratch them they could work their way further into your skin." He states matter-of-factly and I give him a silent 'oh' before moving my hand away from my back.

He keeps a hold on my arm for a few seconds longer than is necessary before letting it drop. He finishes up cleaning my face and then walks around to my back. I hear him make a noise in the back of his throat and I twist my head to see what he's looking at. "What?" I ask and he shakes his head. " _What_?" I ask with a little more force this time.

"I'm guessing you hit the tree with a lot of force to be able to take this much bark along with you." He seems almost amused by this. Why do people think my pain is so funny? I just don't understand it. What's wrong with these people?

"Uh yeah, the tree and I are now one. Some might consider us to be blood bonded now." My words come across with more sarcasm than planned, but in my defense I did just have my ass beaten then handed to me. I hear him let out breathe of air, that sounds all too much like a laugh.

"I can see that…You're going to have to remove your shirt so I can get a better look at your back." I spin around and give him a blank stare. "Seriously?" I state. I don't like that twinkle in his eyes.

"Yes, seriously." He states back. I raise an eyebrow at him. "Ok, because this isn't awkward enough. Let me just take my shirt off for you." I narrow my eyes at him. "You do know that I am currently not wearing a bra, correct?" I can see the sides of his lips twitch when I state this. _'Guys…They'll do just about anything to catch a sight of boobs.'_ I think to myself as I wait for his response.

"Well if I was not aware, then I certainly am now. You don't have to take the shirt off all the way. How about I just rip it the rest of the way so it will reveal your back, but it'll still cover your chest. Deal?" I narrow my eyes at him more, looking for any sign of foul play, before nodding.

I rest my chin back onto the back of the chair. There's a ripping sound as he tears the rest of the shirt away. "I hope this wasn't your shirt." I say in amusement and hear him chuckle. "No, it's actually Yusuke's." This makes me snort in amusement. Oh the irony. "Well then tear away, seeing as he caused this mess in the first place." I let out a short chuckle.

"This might sting a little." Before I can reply, he's pulling some nice sized splinters—and I swear an actual branch—out of my back…ok maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but there were some big pieces of bark. I only wince a few times, but for the most part it just itched like hell. "Oh my gosh, that freakin itches! Why does it itch so badly?" I squirm in my seat and he puts a firm hand on my shoulder to keep me in place.

"It's because your body is trying to heal. Now if you'd stop squirming I could get the rest out and I think I might have something for the itch." He's calm, level voice has that touch of amusement to it that makes my tail twitch.

"So how did it go?" He asks out of the blue and I tilt my head to the side in thought. "Huh?" Sometimes my intelligent answers amaze me…What? I never said I was a genius, now did I?

"The fight, how did it go?" He clarifies.

"Oh. _That._ It went great…if you were rooting for Yusuke. Otherwise it was totally a one-sided fight. And according to Genkai and Yusuke I have a head made out of freaking stone or something as equally as hard." I grumble the last part in distaste. "Oh really? That's very interesting." That amused tone is back in his voice again and I wiggle under his hands just for the hell of it.

"Yes, well I also learned that Hiei is an asshole." This causes him to chuckle and I turn to look at him with a not amused face. He gives me a small smile. "That's just the way Hiei is." He states and I snort. "Well he needs to take some happy pills or something because I find the way he's able to push my buttons a little alarming. I am normally a very calm and patient person, but he knows exactly what to say to push me over the edge."

He lets out another chuckle before responding. "Yes, he can come off as a little rough, but he has his reasons." The conversation comes to an end when Yukina comes barging into the bathroom with an almost frantic look on her face. She spots me on the chair and comes rushing over.

"Emma! Are you alright? Genkai said that you might need some healing, but didn't tell me why." She gently touches my bruised face and then gasps when she sees my bloody back. Kurama steps aside as she puts her cool hands on my back and starts to heal me. "Hey Yukina, nice to see you." I greet her.

I let out a soft sigh as the cooling feeling starts to rush over my back, stopping the itching in its tracks. She then places her hands onto my face and I feel my swollen face go back to normal. When she's satisfied with her work she pulls her hands away and takes a few steps back to look me over.

I stand up with a grateful smile on my now painless face. I grasp the loose shirt in one hand, so it doesn't fall off, and cradle my other wounded arm against my chest. "Thank you. I feel much better now." I tell her, causing her to give me a sad smile. "I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier to heal you." Her words startle me and I give her a shocked look.

"You have nothing to apologize for. Kurama was doing a pretty great job at fixing me up, so you have nothing to worry about." I give her my best smile. Her eyes travel down to my arm and I cringe when she gasps. "Oh, your arm!" She rushes over and takes it gingerly into her cool hands.

"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt." I try to comfort her, but the truth is that it hurts like hell. I take the time to take a good look at it and can now see that it's slightly swollen and has a very nice purple and blue color going on. _'Yup if it's not broken, it sure as hell is fractured.'_ I try not to wince when she stretches it out straight.

"Kurama can you help me hold it so I can heal it in the right position?" Yukina asks and Kurama walks up and replaces Yukina's cool hands with his own warm ones. "I'm sorry Emma, but this is going to be painful." Yukina's voice sounds sad as she says this.

"Don't worry about me. I'm tougher than I look." She nods at me before she gives Kurama a look. Before I can brace myself he squeezes my arm painfully over the break. I let out a sharp breath of air and clench my eyes shut. He maneuvers the bones in my arm till I hear a faint 'crack' as it sets itself back into place. Right after they hear it snap back into place, Yukina's cool healing powers flow over it. But the pain can't be drowned out by her icy touch.

Reality slips away and all I can feel is the pain. In the meantime my mind has gone to a dark place. With my eyes clenched shut the pain and the sounds of my bones cracking brings me back to being kidnapped. Everything in my mind is telling me that I'm still there and that the Doctor is going to start one of his experiments. The sounds of the world are drowned out by my own panicked mind. I need to get out of there before something bad happens! I feel like a frightened animal whose been backed into a corner.

In the back of my mind I register that someone is holding me. I try to pull my arm back, but it just causes me pain. Pain, which must mean the Doctor has already started. _'No, no more! Why does he want to hurt me?! I need to run!'_

My ears pick up a blood curdling scream. It takes me a couple seconds to realize that the scream is coming out of my own mouth. I'm in too much of a panicked state to think clearly. My eyes snap open and I rip my arm out of the person's grasp. I ignore the faint shouts of my name, all I can think about is _'run'_. So that's what I do.

I run out of that room faster than I've ever ran in my life. I start to turn down hallways and it doesn't take me long before I'm hopelessly lost and frightened. This causes my panicked state to worsen. I finally take a left turn and see a door opened to the outside. I make a mad dash to it, but before I can get all the way out of the door someone grabs me.

I let out another scream as I buck and squirm in their grasp, but they just tighten their hold on me. "Let me go!" My wild eyes search to see who's holding me. My eyes meet a pair of angry red orbs. I feel tears start to leak out of my eyes when my struggling gets me nowhere. "Calm down woman." Says a cold deep, vaguely familiar, voice.

' _That voice…I recognize that voice.'_ I stop struggling long enough to finally look at the person holding me. "Hiei?" I ask before a fist quickly comes down onto my temple and I fall into a dark pit of unconsciousness.

….

The sound of people talking wakes me up. "Shit Hiei, you didn't have to hit her so hard." I recognize Yusuke's voice. "Hn. It was the only way to effectively silence her incessant screaming." Hiei replies. I start to remember what happened, before I was knocked out. I had a full blown panic attack and tried to make a run for freedom _. 'I don't blame him for knocking me out. I probably have done the same thing if I were him.'_

"Ugh." I groan as I touch my aching head. "Hey, look! She's waking up!" Kuwabara's voice cuts through the arguing. _'When did he get here?'_ I think to myself as I slowly sit up. I feel a cool pair of hands helping me and I look up to meet Yukina's worried eyes. "Are you alright?" She asks and I just nod.

No, I'm not really alright. My whole world is turned upside down, I'm far away from everything I've ever known, and my panic attacks keep getting worse. I need a shot—or twenty—of something extremely strong. But there's no use in making everyone worry about me, so I'll keep my mental drama to myself.

"Are you sure? You had a really bad panic attack." I give her worried face a warm smile. "It's nothing a little therapy and a few strong dinks won't fix. Thanks though." By the look on her face, she doesn't seem to be amused by my joke, but at least I receive a chuckle from Yusuke. I let out a sigh. "Don't worry. Everything that has happened to me is still fresh in my mind. I just need some time to heal and I'll be good as new. This is like hitting rock bottom again. I can't get any farther down, so I might as well start making the long climb back up to normalcy." I give her another warm smile.

"Ok, if you say so…" She says reluctantly. She then backs away from me so I can stand up. I take a look around to see that we're in the living room. "Hey Emma?" I look over at Kuwabara. "Yeah?" I reply before sitting down on the couch. He twiddles with his thumbs for a second before he speaks. "What do you mean 'hitting rock bottom again'?" He asks and I mentally curse my slip up.

I turn my attention the awaiting three males, taking a mental note that Hiei is sitting in his window seal with his eyes closed, most likely ignoring me. I clear my throat nervously before answering. "Well hitting rock bottom is when you can get no lower in life than you already are and you realize that it's time to fix your mistakes or die with them…or you know, something along those lines." I state.

I can see the curiosity burning in their eyes and I brace myself for the upcoming questions. "So this has happened to you before?" Yusuke asks and I scratch the back of my head. I don't really want to get into this topic, especially with people I don't even know.

"Not this particular situation, so to speak. You see, I made some bad choices with the wrong people when I was younger. I don't want to get into it, but my choices eventually left me in the situation where I had to make the decision of stopping and living or continuing and dying. Obviously I chose to live and there was nothing harder and more rewarding than climbing my way back up from the deep dark hole that I dug myself into." I can see their brains working as they think about what I just said.

I start to fiddle with the hem of my ripped shirt and notice that I'm still wearing the same dirty ripped shirt from earlier. I clear my throat again to get their attention. "I'm going to take a shower and probably crash right afterwards, so don't worry about getting me for dinner. Thank you for all your help today and I'm sorry if I worried any of you." I don't wait for their replies as I head straight to my room for a change of clothes.

I grab a pair of clothes without even looking at them and make my way to the bathroom. When I get there I strip down, quickly rinse off, before sinking into the amazing hot springs.

I sit there until my hands get pruned. I begrudgingly get out and dry myself off. I check my wounds to see that, besides the new lump on my head, they are all pretty much healed. _'Way to go Yukina's super healing powers!'_

I get dressed and don't even bother to mess with my hair as I feel my eyes starting to droop. I slowly make my way to my room and almost bump into Yukina. "Oh, sorry." I apologize to the sweet girl. "It's alright." There's an awkward silence between us before I start to walk off again. "Emma?" She calls out to me and I stop. I turn around to face her to see her nervous eyes watching me. "Yeah?" I ask curiously.

"Well I umm…I just wanted to tell you that if you ever needed someone to talk to, I'll listen." Her sweet words bring a smile to my face and make my chest feel warm with feelings. "Thank you, Yukina. I'll remember that." We share a smile before I head into my room.

I plop down onto my unmade futon and sprawl out across it. "What a fun filled freaking hell of a day. Why can't my days go by like normal? Why does life seem to be testing me? I hate tests…Especially ones I'm unprepared for." I grumble as I stare at the ceiling.

"I guess I should just get used to never having a normal life again. Especially since I now have a tail and cat ears." I start to play with my tail. "Maybe I'll just have to figure out the pros to this new life." I think about it for a second. "Yeah, I'll just have to be optimistic about this all… or at least try to be." I let my mind wander as I think about the pros to my new life. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought it'd be…

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 **Sorry it's taken me so long to update. I'm a really bad procrastinator and this chapter just wasn't turning out the way I wanted it to. I'm still not happy with it, but I figured the more I messed with it, the more I won't like it, so I might as well just download it as is.  
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 **Thank you to everyone who's enjoyed my story and to everyone who has reviewed! You guys are awesome!**


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